Mortgage rates on the rise, predicting home sales in San Francisco, and the other Barbara Corcoran in the spotlight. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of May 18-22.
Miss: Heading Right in the Wrong Direction. Mortgage rates rose this week to their highest level since August. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.51% as of May 21, up from last week when it averaged 6.36%. A year ago at this time, it averaged 6.86%. Not surprisingly, there has been no comment whatsoever from Bill Pulte, the Freddie Mac chairman and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, on why mortgage rates are surging three months after they dropped below the 6% level. Indeed, Pulte has been unusually quiet on the subject – nearly all of his X posts for May have been about non-housing related subjects (such as the Iran war and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s weight), with nary a peep about the elevated mortgage rates occurring on his watch.
Miss: An Odd Reversal. In 2024, Donald Trump campaigned with the pledge to block Chinese ownership of American farmland. But following his recent state visit to China, President Trump changed his mind on the subject. “Look, it’s not that I love it,” he said in an interview. “You want to see farm prices drop, you want to see farmers lose a lot of money? Just take that out of the market.” Even more curious, he cited the example of President Obama (of all people!) for justifying the Chinese presence here. “But they’ve had a lot of land for a long time,” he continued. “Obama did nothing about it. They bought a lot of it during the Obama administration. He did nothing about it.” No explanation was given for the sudden switch.
Hit: There’s a New Game to Play. One of the most unusual stories this week involved the real estate agency TurboHome and its’ new interactive prediction game that challenges users to forecast the final sale prices of San Francisco homes before they close. Players who tap into TurboHome Markets get to predict what five featured homes will sell for each day, featuring real listings along with AI driven market insights. Participants can climb leaderboard rankings and compete for prizes such as tickets to upcoming FIFA World Cup matches at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Seriously, this sounds like a lot of fun, and I wonder how long it will be before copycat games pop up in other major housing markets.
Miss: Green Mountain State Blues. The number crunchers at WalletHub released a new report this week titled “States Where Mortgage Delinquency Is Increasing the Most” that tracked where home loans have become least affordable from the fourth quarter of 2025 to this year’s first quarter. Leading the states was Vermont, where the number of delinquent mortgages in the state increased by over 12% on a quarter-over-quarter basis. What makes this surge peculiar is the fact Vermont’s mortgage delinquency rate is about 6%, one of the lowest in the country. Go figure!
Hit: What’s in a Name? One of the most charming stories this week was the New York Post’s coverage of Barbara Corcoran. No, not the “Shark Tank” star – this Barbara Corcoran is a realtor and luxury property specialist at William Raveis’s Osterville office on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. And while she’s been in the real estate business for roughly two decades, she still gets funny looks when she identifies herself. Still, it hasn’t hurt her business – she sold more than $100 million worth of property during her career – and she even received praise from the celebrity investor who shares her name. “I’ve always said there’s only one Barbara Corcoran — but it sounds like I may have some competition!” Corcoran told The Post. “Any woman who’s built a 20-year career in real estate while raising three kids already has my respect.”
In Memoriam: Barney Frank. This week saw the passing of Barney Frank, the longtime Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, at the age of 86. He was a larger-than-life character who had a profound impact on the nation’s political, social, and economic environments. Within this industry, his namesake Dodd-Frank Act dramatically redesigned how the federal government regulates the financial services industry. Whether you supported his politics or opposed what he proposed, it was impossible not to appreciate the boundless energy and irascible humor that he brought to Capitol Hill.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
0 Comments