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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.
Take ALTA's FinCEN Compliance Survey
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced last month that it will postpone implementation of its Residential Real Estate Rule until March 1, 2026. To better quantify the burden of this rule, ALTA has launched the FinCEN Compliance Survey. We are urging all title insurance professionals to complete this important survey by Dec. 5. Your insight matters: Complete the survey today.
Most homebuyers looking to cover the cost of buying a home turn to mortgage lenders, who pore over financial details like salaries, bank balances and retirement accounts to determine how risky it is to lend the money. That review process has typically excluded crypto assets. But for the roughly 15% of Americans who invest in digital assets, that could soon change.
Job cuts in the United States last month reached the highest level since 2003. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, employers announced 153,074 job cuts in October, a 175% rise from the 55,597 cuts announced in October 2024. The industries with the most cuts were warehousing, technology, retail and the service sector.
House hunters hoping to celebrate Thanksgiving in a new home this month might be in luck, as a growing number of metros are shifting from seller's to buyer's markets, offering shoppers more options and bargaining power. In early summer, seven of the top 50 U.S. metros—led by Miami, Austin, TX, and Orlando, FL— moved into buyer’s market territory, as their months of supply surpassed the six-month benchmark, according to Realtor.com data.
On a sunny afternoon on the shores of Trout Lake in northern Wisconsin, a Catholic sister and a Tribal president sat together at a table and made history. Two years ago, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a Catholic congregation, had approached the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, a part of the Ojibwe Nation, and the original caretakers of the land, with an unheard of proposition: Would they like a piece of their land back?
The Senate was on track Sunday night to pass a deal that could end the federal government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1. A person familiar with the deal told CNBC that enough Democratic senators had agreed to vote for the deal to clear a 60-vote minimum threshold. It would fund the U.S. government through the end of January.
Fannie Mae has announced it will eliminate the 620 minimum credit score requirement for loans processed through its Desktop Underwriter (DU) system, effective November 16, 2025. The change, detailed in the latest DU Version 12.0 release notes and Selling Guide update, represents a major shift in mortgage eligibility and could help more borrowers with lower credit scores but solid finances qualify for loans.
The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to introduce a 50-year fixed-rate mortgage, a reform officials believe could make homeownership more feasible for millions of Americans amid soaring prices and mounting affordability concerns.
American households' debt burdens increased to the highest level on record in the third quarter of 2025, according to a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed's Center for Microeconomic Data released its quarterly report on household debt and credit this week, which showed that household debt rose by $197 billion in the third quarter to a record of $18.59 trillion.
Deed fraud is getting easier to pull off. ALTA member Brian Pitman, CEO of Independence Title, said artificial intelligence can now replicate notary signatures and seals so convincingly that even legitimate notaries sometimes have no idea their credentials were used.
With mortgage rates elevated, more borrowers are turning to adjustable-rate loans for relief. Adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, made up about 10% of all mortgage applications in September — the highest share in nearly two years and well above the post-2008 average of 6%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
High prices and high mortgage rates are making it hard for many people to get a toehold in the housing market.
As the ongoing U.S. government shutdown that commenced on Oct. 1 dragged through its first full month, mortgage rate locks held relatively steady, though October’s overall volumes fell 1.3% from September, Mortgage Capital Trading reported.
Zillow is facing a class-action lawsuit that claims the company used its powerful lead generation programs to steer homebuyers toward its own mortgage business — and rewarded agents who went along. The complaint, filed Nov. 7 in federal court in Seattle, alleges that Zillow violated federal and state consumer protection laws by creating a system of "kickbacks" and incentives for agents, linking Zillow Home Loans referrals to leads.
In November, PwC and the Urban Land Institute released their annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2026 report, ranking the top 10 markets to watch in 2026. The Dallas-Fort Worth market ranked first for the second year in a row both commercial and homebuilding prospects lists this year, according to the report.
Last week saw a big swing in mortgage interest rates, and that took a toll on demand. Total mortgage application volume fell 1.9% compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
U.S. regional banks’ commercial real estate loan books are proving broadly resilient despite worries sparked by a handful of soured loans, but the office sector continues to be a pain point, analysts said.
The United States housing market continued to move at a crawl, with pending home sales rising just 0.7% year over year in the four weeks ending November 2—a pace not seen since 2019.
United States household debt continued its steady climb in the third quarter of 2025, reaching a record $18.59 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Household Debt and Credit Report.
Homebuyers are seeing more choices when it comes to shopping around for a new house. The number of active homes on the market increased 14% year over year, according to the Realtor.com Weekly Housing Trends report. This marks the 104th straight week of annual gains in inventory. For perspective, there were about 1.1 million homes for sale last week.
The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage ticked up for the first time in five weeks after falling to its lowest level in more than a year last week. The average long-term mortgage rate moved up to 6.22% from 6.17% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.79%.
Even though the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates twice this year, 30-year fixed mortgage rates are still floating above 6% — where they’ve been stuck since February 2023. Rates currently sit at an average of 6.37%, per Mortgage News Daily, well above the level where 40% of would-be buyers say they’d feel comfortable purchasing a home, according to a Bankrate survey from early 2025. Why aren’t mortgage rates falling faster?
Property taxes are rising across much of America, but where you live makes all the difference. The median U.S. property tax bill in 2024 rose to $3,500, up 2.8% from the previous year, largely driven by surging home values and shifting local tax rates. However, some homeowners are paying a significantly different amount due to the states they live in, according to Realtor.com.
America’s biggest builders are struggling to sell homes even when they offer buyers a 4% mortgage. Their experience suggests rate cuts alone won’t be enough to boost weak sales in the wider housing market. The number of completed but unsold new homes has reached levels last seen in the summer of 2009, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows.
“The last three months have been truly exceptional for office demand in San Francisco,” Max Saia, head of investor research at VTS, told the Business Times.
The American Land Title Association’s (ALTA) new president says he wants the organization to engage with more members, advocate for the title insurance profession and continue to serve as an educational resource for industry professionals. David Townsend Esq., NTP, who was sworn in as ALTA’s president during the ALTA ONE conference in New York City in October, said, “I want to be a cheerleader for ALTA.”
Potatoes, pie, and precipitation. That’s what awaits much of the country this Thanksgiving. The Old Farmer’s Almanac has released its end-of-month weather predictions, and while Americans prepare for family gatherings and copious amounts of food on Nov. 27, they may also want to have raincoats and snow boots at the ready. Unless you live in two very specific parts of the country, where sunny skies are expected, most Americans should brace for wet or wintry weather. Even if you don’t get sunshine, at least the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade should go on uninterrupted.
High home prices and elevated mortgage rates have made it increasingly difficult for Gen Z and millennials to buy homes. The median age of first-time U.S. home buyers has significantly jumped during the past decade. Because incomes have not kept pace with housing costs, many younger Americans are locked out of homeownership.
Homebuyer affordability improved in September, with the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants decreasing to $2,067, down from $2,100 in September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Purchase Applications Payment Index. That brought the index score down to 155.0, a decrease of 1.6% compared with August.
The FBI last month searched the offices of a California real estate investment firm Continuum Analytics, which is linked to bad loans recently disclosed by Zions and Western Alliance, according to legal correspondence seen by Reuters.
Town clerks and municipal officials in Connecticut told the Judiciary Committee that a proposal to require public-agency redaction of personal information from online records would pose major operational and cost challenges for municipalities that have digitized decades of land and municipal records. "HB 7255 not only affects land records, it also includes other municipal records such as video, social media, and audio meeting minutes," said Lisa Dalton, first vice president of the Connecticut Town Clerk's Association and Watertown town clerk.
When a borrower defaults on a commercial loan, the lender's initial steps can make the difference between a successful workout and a drawn-out collection process. It is essential to understand the lender’s options and act with purpose in addressing the default and properly documenting any further modifications to the credit relationship.
Mortgage rates have been trending toward the low-6% range for several months, giving homebuyers some relief amid affordability challenges — but maybe less relief than they expected after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last week.
Months of turmoil at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are set to reach a breaking point in the coming weeks. The full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing whether it’ll intervene to stop the Trump administration’s plans to fire roughly 90 percent of the agency’s employees, which remain on hold under a lower-court order.
The share of first-time homebuyers in the United States plummeted to a historic low of 21% over the past year, while the median age of first-time homebuyers entering the market soared to 40, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
This week the Federal Reserve dropped short-term interest rates by a quarter-point. Chairman Jerome Powell surprisingly said a one-quarter point December cut is not a done deal. He blamed the softening labor market and rising inflation for caution ahead. I went knocking on the door of several reputable California economists to ask what they’re seeing in their crystal balls.
The public comment period for the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s proposed housing goals for its regulated entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended on Monday, with decidedly mixed feedback from several prominent industry trade groups.
Longstanding housing supply shortages across the U.S. erode first-time homebuyers’ ability to enter the market by increasing competition for available inventory, which helps maintain elevated home prices. The effects of this supply-demand imbalance are varied.
The Trump administration’s removal of Joe Allen, acting inspector general at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), has intensified concerns about the politicization of America’s mortgage watchdogs and the potential ripple effects for global housing finance.
Analysts at Bank of America Securities say they are in the minority in believing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should return to serving as the main backstop buyers of agency mortgage-backed securities.
Flagstar Bank has agreed to a $31.5 million settlement to resolve two class action lawsuits stemming from data breaches which impacted over 2 million consumers. The agreement, pending a Michigan federal judge's approval, will create the fund for approximately 2,187,170 class members, according to case filings in October. The bank suffered two distinct cyberattacks in 2021, including one in which it paid a $1 million ransom to hackers.
Investors are bracing for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to lean more toward shorter maturities in the government’s funding mix to keep down long-term yields amid a mounting debt burden.
Real estate leaders say fixing housing affordability requires rethinking the nation’s mortgage system. NextHome’s Keith Robinson and Century 21’s Mike Miedler argue that the 30-year fixed model is outdated, urging longer terms, creative financing, and zoning reform. Robinson proposes a new FHA-backed structure focused solely on first-time buyers.
Wells Fargo isn't treating AI as just another IT upgrade. It's re-architecting the entire bank to embed the technology into core workflows, including through agentic capabilities. Wells Fargo will soon be rolling out an enterprise-wide generative AI platform for all employees — part of a broader effort to redesign processes so humans and AI agents can work alongside one another.
Three Federal Reserve officials said they did not support the US central bank's decision to cut interest rates this week, citing inflation that remains too high. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and her Cleveland counterpart, Beth Hammack, said Friday they would have preferred to hold rates steady. Both were speaking at a conference in Dallas, following a statement earlier in the day from Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid outlining the reasons for his dissent against Wednesday's rate cut.
United States Treasury secretary Scott Bessent called out the Federal Reserve’s high interest rate policy for pushing the US housing market into recession, warning that “there are sectors of the economy that are in recession” despite broader economic stability. Bessent said the housing sector has borne the brunt of the Fed’s tightening cycle, with high mortgage rates sidelining buyers and cooling activity.
For Generation Z, the path to homeownership looks steeper than ever. A new Realtor.com survey of 1,000 adults ages 18 to 27 found that 82% believe buying a home presents greater difficulty for their generation than it was for those before, and nearly one in five rank housing affordability as one of their highest life concerns.
President Donald Trump's clampdown on the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this year has compounded IT security lapses at the agency through the cancellation of contracts, according to an audit report released on Monday. The information security program at CFPB -- which maintains sensitive and confidential data from investigations, the oversight of companies and complaints received from members of the public -- is "not effective," according to the Office of Inspector General, which also covers the Federal Reserve.
The pool of houses for sale is now back “well above” pre-pandemic levels as more owners put their places on the market. But with many over-extended builders pulling back, the number of new houses for sale is slowing dwindling. According to a new report from Redfin, newly built houses accounted for about 27% of the total number of single-family houses for sale in August. That’s the lowest level in four years. (August is the most recent month for which data is available, Redfin noted.)
The new president of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization is a 35-year veteran of home lending, and is excited to give back to the industry by bringing together various stakeholders to implement standards. That includes big issues such as the Mortgage Compliance Dataset to make regulation easier, and rapidly proliferating artificial intelligence.
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