December 2025

Why 2025’s strong purchase application data didn’t boost home sales

Purchase application data had its first positive year in many years in 2025, meaning we had more positive than negative week-to-week data, and most of the year was positive year over year in almost every weekly print. However, existing home sales will likely be only slightly higher in 2025 than in 2024. So how could […]

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Compass, NWMLS clash over document production in antitrust suit

Compass and Northwest MLS (NWMLS) are currently locked in a dispute over the MLS’s production of documents during discovery in the Robert Reffkin-helmed firm’s antitrust lawsuit.  Compass filed this lawsuit against NWMLS in late April 2025. The antitrust suit centers around NWMLS’s listing policy. As a non-Realtor-association affiliated MLS, NWMLS does not have to adhere

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The U.S. housing market in 2025: A year of normalization

After housing market cycles defined by extreme shortages, rapid price appreciation and frenetic buyer competition, this year delivered something closer to balance. Inventory climbed meaningfully, price growth flattened and homes took longer to sell — signs of a market settling into a more sustainable rhythm. Using data through Dec. 20, here’s how the housing market

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Compass-Anywhere deal may exceed DOJ market-share limits in some cities

Compass’s proposed acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate may give the firm some eyebrow-raising market share levels in certain markets across the country, according to analysis of RealTrends Verified data published by The Capitol Forum earlier this week. This includes more than 80% market share in both Newport Beach, California and Manhattan. According to the publication’s

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DOJ wants antitrust review of real estate commissions in Davis suit

The Department of Justice (DOJ) wants a federal court in Philadelphia to take a close look at real estate agent commissions. Last Friday, the DOJ filed a statement of interest in the Davis homebuyer commission lawsuit filed in May 2024 against Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.  The statement of interest was signed by Assistant Attorney

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NAR supports major housing reforms in 2026 legislative agenda

There’s no shortage of differing opinions within housing, but one thing most industry professionals can agree on is that affordability is a key ongoing struggle for many prospective homebuyers.  Real estate agents and members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are on the front lines of this battle, as they work with buyers to

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DSCR loans became an investor favorite in 2025

For real estate investors sidelined by traditional income documentation requirements, debt-service-coverage ratio (DSCR) loans are becoming easier to access and are more widely available as lenders refine underwriting and gain confidence in the product’s performance. Like other seemingly “nontraditional” loans, lenders took some time to dip their toes into in the DSCR market. Marc Halpern,

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Housing market favoring buyers, but prices still tick up

Housing market favoring buyers, but prices still tick up

Houses stand in this aerial photograph taken near Mountain View, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019. Facebook Inc. is following other tech titans like Microsoft Corp. and Google, pledging to use its deep pockets to ease the affordable housing shortage in West Coast cities. The social media giant said that it would commit $1

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MLO fined, barred in 21 states for alleged education fraud

A mortgage loan originator has settled a coordination action brought by 21 states which permanently bars him from working in the industry in 19 of those. Processing Content Patrick Terrance Donlon, worked for Trusted American Mortgage, disputed the findings but settled the “regulatory concerns without the time, expense, and uncertainty of contesting the findings in

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