The Mortgage Market Is Healthy. That Doesn’t Mean Every Homeowner Is

by John G. Stevens | Aug 28, 2026 | Mortgage Information, News/Current Events, Real Estate News, U.S. Housing Market, WRE News Exclusive

There is a strange contradiction developing in the mortgage market right now, and I think we need to be careful about how we talk about it. By most broad measures, the mortgage system is still in pretty good shape. There is no national foreclosure crisis, there is no...

There Isn’t One U.S. Housing Market. We Need to Stop Talking Like There Is

by John G. Stevens | Aug 28, 2026 | Real Estate News, U.S. Housing Market

Every month, the housing industry gets another collection of national numbers. Home prices are up. Sales are down. Inventory is improving. Affordability is getting worse. Builder confidence moved. Mortgage applications changed. We report those numbers because they...

Real Estate’s Next Fight Is Over Who Keeps the Homeowner Relationship

by John G. Stevens | Aug 28, 2026 | Mortgage Information, News/Current Events, Real Estate News

For most people in real estate and mortgage, closing day has always carried a sense of finality. The papers are signed, the keys change hands, commissions are paid, the loan funds and everybody moves on to the next transaction. The homeowner, of course, doesn’t...

More Borrowers Can Qualify for a Mortgage. That Doesn’t Make the House Affordable

by John G. Stevens | Aug 28, 2026 | Mortgage Information, U.S. Housing Market

There are borrowers in America who can responsibly repay a mortgage and still do not fit neatly into the underwriting box we built for them. Anyone who has spent time in mortgage lending has seen this. A self-employed business owner may have substantial cash flow but...

Residential Property Vacancy Rate Holds Steady at 1.3%

by Phil Hall | Aug 28, 2026 | News/Current Events, Real Estate News, U.S. Housing Market, WRE News Exclusive

A new data report from ATTOM found 1.3% of residential properties were vacant in the third quarter of the year. That was the same rate as the previous quarter as well as the third quarter of 2025. Out of the country’s 104.6 million residential properties, 259,666 were...