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ALTA News: Headlines and news from various media sources, keeping you
"in the know" about issues impacting business and the real estate and
mortgage markets.
The U.S. labor market is ending 2025 on a sour note. While companies didn’t resort to full-scale layoffs, many did trim head count, especially later in the year. Many also stopped hiring. Fewer employees quit jobs. Wage gains slowed. The unemployment rate drifted higher over the course of the year and last month hit its highest level in four years. The number of Americans who are unemployed rose over 700,000 to 7.8 million.
Twenty-one state and district attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on Monday, opposing his moves to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Vought, who is also serving as acting director of the CFPB, has been trying to dismantle the consumer watchdog since February. His efforts — including attempts to fire 90 percent of the agency’s staff — have been put on hold by a district court ruling.
America's housing market might finally start to thaw in 2026. After years of soaring prices and sluggish sales, multiple real-estate platforms see next year as an inflection point. Redfin has branded 2026 the "Great Housing Reset," while Compass says it's the beginning of a "new era" in which more homes hit the market and transactions pick up, per CNN. The shift is expected as President Trump promises what he calls the "most aggressive housing reform plans" in U.S. history, though economists say market forces, not policy, will likely drive much of the change.
From coast to coast, America’s most expensive ZIP codes share the same DNA: ocean-adjacent settings, luxury homes and deep-pocketed buyers. These markets are dominated by multimillion-dollar estates, with a significant share commanding eight-figure prices. Economists at Realtor.com recently identified the 10 most expensive ZIP codes in the nation and the salaries needed to live there.
After years of steep increases, renters are finally seeing sustained price relief, a trend that appears to be carrying into early 2026. In November, the median asking rent across the 50 largest U.S. metro areas was $1,693, down about 1% from a year earlier and marking the 28th consecutive month of year-over-year declines, according to Realtor.com listings data.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently announced “Operation Double Nickel,” a proposal that would lower the age for senior property tax benefits from 65 to 55 and expand homestead tax exemptions. According to Patrick’s website, the plan “would accelerate school property tax cuts, reduce school property taxes, and freeze appraised values for more than 3.3 million homeowners, forever, by taking the current over-65 freeze on taxable value down to homeowners 55 and over.”
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is hanging by a thread, with the bureau's continued existence being called into question in three separate legal cases that could take up to six months to play out. Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought and President Trump have made no secret about wanting to shut down the agency, which was created after the 2008 financial crisis to enforce 18 specific consumer protection laws previously overseen by other agencies.
Mortgage application volume plummeted 5.0% during the week ended December 19, in keeping with seasonal patterns, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey. Applications for refinances decreased 6% compared with the previous week but were up 110% compared with the same week one year ago.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has published a final rule establishing the Enterprise Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSEs) for the 2026 through 2028 performance period under the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992. These annual housing goals are a statutory mandate requiring FHFA to set benchmark levels that measure the extent to which the GSEs’ mortgage purchases support affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families while maintaining safety and soundness.
Mortgage rates ticked lower this week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage decreased to 6.21% from last week's reading of 6.22%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.72% a year ago.
Mortgage interest rates have remained elevated since the end of the pandemic, making all-cash home purchases increasingly attractive to buyers who can afford to forgo financing. A new report from the National Association of Realtors has found that for the last three years, more than a quarter of all home sales in the U.S. involved all-cash buyers who did not require a mortgage.
High home prices, stubbornly high mortgage rates and now less supply are all weighing on potential homebuyers. Sales of previously owned homes rose just 0.5% in November from October and were 1% lower than November 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales came in at an annualized rate of 4.13 million units.
Amid October headlines about the government shutdown, the IRS made a significant announcement without much fanfare: new tax brackets that will impact every taxpayer in the country. Changes to brackets aren’t new. They’re adjusted upwards every year to account for inflation, using the Consumer Price Index as a guide.
CertifID CEO Tyler Adams warns that real estate fraud in 2025 relies on refined tactics, not new schemes. Criminals use AI deepfake voices, email monitoring and precise timing. Mandatory wire verification, layered security and training are essential. CertifID has helped recover over $120 million, but smaller consumer losses remain devastating nationwide.
The Trump administration’s pivot to affordability is bumping up against one of its hallmark deregulatory pushes: shuttering the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agency, created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, writes and enforces consumer protection rules on big banks and nonbank lenders.
Several of the mortgage industry's biggest story lines from 2025 are expected to take clearer shape in 2026, according to industry participants who shared their outlooks with National Mortgage News. Among the developments gaining traction are the potential arrival of the 50-year mortgage, the full rollout of credit score modernization and further consolidation after a year marked by notable deals.
Existing home sales have been trending higher since June, when the monthly sales print bottomed at 3,930,000 for 2025. The question is: can this continue? Back in mid-June, the housing market started to shift, and then mortgage rates fell below the key 6.64% level and headed toward 6. This has given us 200,000 more sales growth since June, and the key variables that led that growth are still in play today.
Mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest level in a year, but millions of homeowners are still locked into ultralow mortgage rates they don’t want to give up. Nearly 30 million households, or 54% of primary mortgage-holders, have mortgage rates at or below 4%. They were able to buy homes or refinance their mortgages when rates fell to 3% or lower in 2020 and 2021.
Lenders are raising a host of arguments to halt California's new zombie seconds law, which they say will freeze the secondary mortgage market. The California Mortgage Association and other lender plaintiffs asked a federal judge this week to impose a preliminary injunction on Assembly Bill 130, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in June.
United States pending home sales declined nearly 6% year over year in early December, marking the steepest drop in almost a year and signaling that buyers and sellers alike have pulled back as 2025 drew to a close. Redfin reported that pending sales for the four weeks ending December 14 fell 5.8% from a year earlier, with just six of the 50 largest metros posting annual gains.
MISMO provides the shared data model and prescriptive standards that create the common language enabling consistent, scalable, and modern mortgage lending across the industry Ask five mortgage professionals to define “MISMO,” and you’re likely to hear five different answers: a data format, an investor requirement, something the GSEs use, a thing our LOS vendor handles, or the classic: I’m sure it’s important, but not really sure how. Here’s the truth. MISMO is the common language that makes the entire mortgage system work.
One of the most visible promoters of attorney opinion letters (AOLs) to back real estate titles, as opposed to conventional title insurance, has filed for bankruptcy, reinforcing ALTA’s warning that attorney opinion letters are a fragile and inferior alternative to title insurance. ALTA says the bankruptcy backs its position that the letters “are inferior products (that) don’t reduce risk.”
High home prices, stubbornly high mortgage rates and now less supply are all weighing on potential homebuyers. Sales of previously owned homes rose just 0.5% in November from October and were 1% lower than November 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales came in at an annualized rate of 4.13 million units.
Affordability is forecast to modestly improve in the year ahead, but many homebuyers are likely to still need a little help getting through the front door of their next home. On that front, there are a slew of programs aimed at assisting homebuyers, ranging from federal loans with flexible credit requirements to state grants and employer-sponsored down payment help.
Real estate agents at The Real Brokerage are looking past a muted 2025 toward a busier 2026, even as buyers continue to struggle with affordability and thin inventory in many markets. In its final monthly agent survey of the year, Real reported that 78% of respondents expect home sale transaction volumes to rise next year, and 60% anticipate further home price gains, a combination that keep pressure on borrowers even as sentiment improves.
A key Senate leader is requesting records surrounding the cancellation of second mortgages following the Great Financial Crisis and asking whether the loans were sold to collections agencies in violation of a major legal settlement.
The United States Senate confirmed both Frank Cassidy as Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner; and Joe Gormley as President of Ginnie Mae. “These individuals have already been doing the work – delivering results, strengthening accountability, and advancing HUD’s mission,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “Their Senate confirmation continues to build our outstanding team. These nominees are focused on supporting housing opportunities and improving affordability for the American people. I am proud to have such dedicated and experienced professionals supporting President Trump’s agenda at HUD.”
ALTA CEO Chris Morton and six other new members were recently welcomed to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Association Committee of 100 (C100). For more than 60 years, leading association executives have gathered under the banner of the U.S. Chamber’s C100 to network, build partnerships and discuss current issues. These CEOs represent the interests of their association members, enhance the U.S. Chamber’s pro-business advocacy, lobbying and coalition work and strengthen efforts to fight for business growth and America’s success.
President Donald Trump again vowed to cut housing costs and dangled the promise of dramatic action to address the affordability crisis while making a special address to the nation on Wednesday. It is not the first time Trump has promised drastic action on housing costs, after signing an order for "emergency price relief" on the first day of his second term, and floating plans for declaring a national housing emergency this fall, which never materialized.
Inflation eased its grip on the American consumer in November, with prices rising 2.7% from a year earlier, the Labor Department said in a Dec. 18 report. The annual inflation rate had crept as high as 3% in September. The slightly lower rate for November reflected smaller price increases for gasoline and new vehicles, among other items.
The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate last week, and just as happened the last two times, mortgage rates rose. That caused demand for home loans and refinances to drop. Total mortgage application volume fell 3.8% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
Renovated homes continue to attract more online interest and sell faster than other older properties — but their long-standing fix-and-flip advantage has narrowed sharply as higher mortgage rates reshape buyer behavior, according to a new Realtor.com report. The analysis builds on earlier research showing fixer-uppers are priced 54.2% below the national median for single-family homes.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has agreed to hear a case involving the Trump administration’s attempts to lay off nearly 90% of workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The move tosses a 2-to-1 decision from a smaller panel of that federal appeals court in August that overruled a lower court’s decision and allowed the mass layoffs to proceed.
On Thursday, the United States Senate confirmed both Frank Cassidy as Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Federal Housing Administration Commissioner; and Joe Gormley as President of Ginnie Mae. Since April 2025, Gormley has been serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Ginnie Mae, a guarantor of mortgage-backed securities backed by government-insured or guaranteed loans. Gormely brings deep institutional knowledge from prior HUD and industry roles.
Behind the generative AI boom is a rush to build the data centers and server farms that power them—snapping up land, straining power and water systems, and fueling bitter local fights. But in Henrico County, VA, leaders have taken a radically different approach. They are turning this AI-era infrastructure into a pipeline for affordable homes by taking new tax dollars from data centers, and using it to buy down the price of homes for first-time buyers.
Property taxes and homeowners insurance premiums are climbing and are expected to rise even faster in 2026, driven largely by growing housing density in high-risk areas. For millions of homeowners, these rising "hidden" costs are adding serious strain at a time when affordability is already stretched.
The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate last week, and just as happened the last two times, mortgage rates rose. That caused demand for home loans and refinances to drop. Total mortgage application volume fell 3.8% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
Mortgage interest rates remain volatile, and for homebuyers, a mortgage rate lock could mean paying thousands of dollars less over the life of a loan. While timing plays a role in securing the lowest possible mortgage rate, experts say preparation and a clear understanding of how rate locks work matter more than trying to outguess the market.
Imagine a world where a mortgage lender, title company and underwriter don’t send a single email or PDF, and yet the loan is cleared for closing, the title is issued and the closing documents balance in minutes. No waiting for “final figures,” no guessing who has the ball. That world isn’t decades away. It’s arriving now, powered by something few in real estate have heard of yet: the MCP, short for "model context protocol," server.
Months of economic turbulence are now colliding with data disruptions and divisions inside the Federal Reserve, leaving policymakers uncertain about the actual state of the labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release November’s jobs report on Tuesday, December 16—its first Employment Situation filing since the government shutdown disrupted the nation’s economic data pipeline.
California’s housing market ended November with its strongest sales pace in more than three years, even as prices slipped and inventory ticked higher, according to the California Association of Realtors. Existing single-family sales reached a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 287,940. That's up 1.9% from October and 2.6% from a year earlier, marking the highest level since September 2022.
Senior Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), have filed an amicus brief to challenge actions by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Acting Director Russell Vought arguing the unlawful block of consistent funding for the agency. The brief, filed in federal court, was joined by 22 Democrats from the House Financial Services Committee and 11 Democrats from the Senate Banking Committee, along with key authors of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, including former Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) and former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA).
Demand turned tail last week as the Central Bank suggested its December rate cut might be the last for a while, pushing mortgage rates up. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows that the adjusted Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — fell 3.8%, reversing a 4.8% increase the week prior.
New York became the latest state to officially enact legislation that outlaws the practice known as Non-Title Recorded Agreements for Personal Services or NTRAPS, which threatens senior citizens with loss of their homes. Gov. Kathie Hochul signed the bill into law after it passed the New York State Legislature with wide bipartisan support earlier this year. Upon signing, New York became the 33rd state with laws in its books explicitly banning NTRAPs.
Employers across the U.S. added 64,000 jobs in November, beating economists' forecasts, new government data shows, even as new October figures revealed a loss of 105,000 jobs, a sign the labor market remains under pressure. The unemployment rate in November rose to 4.6%, the highest level since September 2021.
Cantankerous and increasingly cautious consumers — perhaps put on edge by seemingly shrinking paychecks, a weaker job market and stubbornly high prices — gave the Federal Reserve more room to cut interest rates for a third time in 2025. On Dec. 10, the nation's central bank cut short-term interest rates by a quarter percentage point. The Fed's December rate cut drove the short-term federal funds rate to a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
Mortgage applications for new home purchases increased 3.1% from the same time a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association Builder Application Survey. But month to month, the November 2025 numbers fell by 7% from October 2025. The change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns. MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 755,000 units in November 2025. Re
During the four weeks ended December 7, new listings of U.S. homes for sale decreased 1.7% year-over-year (YoY), the largest decrease in more than two years, according to a recent report from Redfin. Prospective home sellers are retreating in part because it’s the end of the year, which is usually a sluggish season for the housing market, and in part because they’re responding to weak demand for homes.
Google ruffled feathers this week by testing home ads as part of its search results, flaunting potential competition for portal bigshots like Zillow. The ubiquitous search engine is testing new home ads at the top of its results, including links to request tours and contact agents, days-on-market data, price filtering, and more.
Mortgage trade groups are supporting limits on disparate-impact liability under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and other proposed changes, according to comment letters submitted Monday to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Consumer advocacy groups, however, are urging the CFPB to withdraw the proposal entirely, warning that it would significantly weaken fair lending protections and make credit more expensive and less accessible for women, Black and Latino borrowers, and older adults.
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