Existing-Home Sales Fell 2.0% in August While Supply Reached a Decade High
NAR reported 3.98 million annualized sales and 4.9 months of inventory, the deepest supply in more than ten years.
Wednesday EditionIndependent national coverage
Top real estate stories for September 23, 2026
Rents Have Risen Seven Months Straight and Are Still Below Last Year
Mortgage Rates Jumped 19 Basis Points in a Single Week to 6.95%
Edition snapshot
Selected market measures
Across the marketInvestment, commercial & policy
Lodging REITs Returned 42.8% in the First Half While Apartment REITs Managed 8.3%
Illustrative residential architecture; not a property discussed in the article.
Original Estate Wire coverage
Full archive
Published
26 stories found · page 1 of 2
Fannie Mae Notched Its 34th Straight Profitable Quarter, and Net Worth Passed $116 Billion
The mortgage giant's second-quarter earnings show the conservatorship-era income machine still running, even as it reports helping fewer than half a million households.
Read full article
Freddie Mac's Profit Jumped 61%, but Its Delinquency Rates Kept Creeping Up
A credit reserve release lifted second-quarter net income to $3.8 billion, even as single-family and multifamily delinquency both rose for a second straight year-over-year comparison.
Read full article
Private Mortgage Insurers Wrote 21% More New Business, Just as Fannie and Freddie Changed the Credit-Score Rules
MGIC and Radian posted another profitable quarter as the GSEs let insurers choose between VantageScore and FICO for capital purposes — a change analysts call a work in progress, not a breakthrough.
Read full article
Overall Mortgage Delinquencies Edged Down, but FHA Serious Delinquencies Jumped 225 Basis Points
MBA's second-quarter survey found the seriously delinquent rate rising for a fourth straight quarter even as the seasonally adjusted headline number improved slightly.
Read full article
NewRez Will Pay $15.5 Million After Charging More Than 4,200 Borrowers for Insurance They Already Had
State regulators say the servicer force-placed hazard insurance on customers with active homeowners policies; New Jersey and Massachusetts even disagree on how many states joined.
Read full article
Mortgage Standards Remain Tight by Historical Comparison, Fed Survey Finds
Banks told the Fed's quarterly loan officer survey that standards sit at the tighter end of their range since 2005 for every category except business loans, with home-loan demand weaker on balance.
Read full article
The Regulator Overseeing Fannie and Freddie Took a Second Job Running U.S. Intelligence
Shares in both mortgage giants fell on the news, and analysts read it as a signal that conservatorship exit had slipped down the agenda.
Read full article
Rocket and the Justice Department Asked a Court to Help Them Settle an Appraisal Bias Case
A joint motion for a settlement conference — not a settlement — in a Fair Housing Act suit over a Denver refinance appraisal.
Read full article
Fannie Mae's Title Insurance Waiver Pilot Is Set to Grow, and Title Insurers Are Pushing Back
The programme lets approved lenders substitute automated title review for a lender's policy on some low-LTV refinances.
Read full article
Nearly 72% of Government-Backed Purchase Loans This Year Went to First-Time Buyers
Ginnie Mae's July report shows how far the federally guaranteed channel has become the entry point to homeownership, as monthly issuance eased to $52.9 billion.
Read full article
UWM Lost $451.9 Million on Hedges and Raised $2.05 Billion From Oaktree and the Ishbia Family
The wholesale lender's origination volume held at $39.7 billion and margins widened, but a $603.2 million derivatives loss drove the quarter into deficit.
Read full article
Fannie and Freddie Opened VantageScore 4.0 to Every Approved Lender Without Prior Permission
The September change removes the written-approval requirement that had limited the alternative credit score to a partial rollout, while FICO 10T remains ineligible for delivery.
Read full article
Home Equity Lines Rose for a 17th Straight Quarter
HELOC balances reached $459 billion in the second quarter, $142 billion above their 2022 low, while a reporting artifact made mortgage debt appear to fall.
Read full article
FHA Tightened the Rules on Repeated Trial Payment Plans
Mortgagee Letter 2026-08, mandatory from September 21, treats a third refusal of a trial plan as a failure and limits repeat re-reviews that delay foreclosure.
Read full article
The VA Began Taking Partial Claim Submissions in June, With Full Servicer Compliance Due November 28
The program lets the VA buy up to 25% of a defaulted loan's balance as a subordinate lien, leaving the veteran's original mortgage rate untouched.
Read full article
HUD Made 14 Changes to FHA Lending Rules, Including Optional Appraisal Reviews
The June 23 package removes a quality-control requirement estimated to save the industry $3.3 million a year and doubles allowable draws under the limited rehabilitation program.
Read full article
Lenders Set Their Own Conforming Loan Limits Months Before the Official Figure
Pennymac went to $850,000 and UWM to $847,440 in September, ahead of an FHFA announcement not due until November.
Read full article
The 30-Year Rate Spent the Spring in a Narrow Band Before Climbing Through Summer
Freddie Mac's weekly survey shows the 2026 low at 5.98% in late February and a September high of 6.95% — with April through June unusually flat in between.
Read full article
Refinance Share Drove the Spring Swings in Mortgage Applications
MBA's weekly survey covers roughly three-quarters of US retail residential applications, and in 2026 the refinance component moved several times faster than purchase demand.
Read full article
Mortgage Delinquencies Rose to 4.44% in the First Quarter
MBA's National Delinquency Survey recorded an 18 basis-point quarterly increase, with foreclosure starts still historically low at about 0.24% of loans.
Read full article