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ALTA Reports Title Insurance Premium Volume Increased 7% in 2024
“Despite ongoing challenges from limited housing inventory and elevated mortgage rates, title professionals remain steadfast in their role—protecting property rights and serving their communities,” said Diane Tomb, ALTA’s chief executive officer. “Beyond managing closings and ensuring secure transactions, title and settlement agents play a crucial role in educating consumers about a host of threats to homeownership, such as fraud, heirs’ property complications and predatory real estate fee agreements.”
Single-Family Starts Down on Economic and Tariff Uncertainty
“The decline in single-family housing starts in April mirrors builder sentiment, as elevated interest rates, uncertainty on the tariff front and rising construction costs are exacerbating housing affordability challenges,” said Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. “In turn, this is making it more difficult for builders to deliver entry-level housing at a price point that is accessible to home buyers.”
Soft Spring Selling Season Takes a Toll on Builder Confidence
“The spring home buying season has gotten off to a slow start as persistent elevated interest rates, policy uncertainty and building material cost factors hurt builder sentiment in May,” said NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes, a home builder and developer from Lexington, N.C. “However, the overwhelming majority of survey responses came before the tariff reduction announcement with China."
April New Home Purchase Mortgage Applications Increased 5.3 Percent
"Despite the ongoing economic uncertainty and mortgage rate volatility, April was a strong month for new home purchase activity, with applications posting an annual gain for the second straight month,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist.
America's Housing Affordability Gap Persists: Households Earning $75,000 Annually Can Afford Less Than a Quarter of For-Sale Home Listings
"The housing market is at a turning point," said Nadia Evangelou, NAR senior economist and director of real estate research. "More homes are hitting the market, and it's encouraging to see the greatest housing-supply gains among middle-income home buyers."
Settlor Integrates With CertifID to Strengthen Security For Users
“This integration will drive increased efficiency and productivity for closing agents by directly incorporating CertifID’ s wire fraud prevention tools into Settlor users’ everyday workflows and processes without our users having to open a separate app,” said Mike Patterson, Settlor Co-Founder.
Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey
“Last week saw steadier mortgage rates, as the FOMC meeting played as predicted, and market movements led to a small two-basis point increase in the 30-year conforming rate to 6.86 percent,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s SVP and Chief Economist.
Mortgage Delinquencies Increase Slightly in the First Quarter of 2025
“There were mixed results for mortgage performance in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the end of 2024. Delinquencies on conventional loans increased slightly, while mortgage delinquencies on FHA and VA loans declined,” said Marina Walsh, CMB, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis. “Foreclosure inventories increased across all three loan types, and particularly for VA loans."
First Draft of Tax Reform Bill "Very Positive" for Real Estate
"This is a very strong opening bid for our advocacy priorities. This draft language preserves or strengthens a raft of provisions vital to housing affordability, including making the current lower income tax brackets permanent," says NAR Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn. "These are all measures we have worked tirelessly to advocate for on behalf of our members."
Quick Links
Buyer agreements don't lead to lower commissions, Fed finds
The paper concluded that while there has been a modest downward trend in buy-side commission rates, which fell from roughly 3% in the 1990s to around 2.7% in the 2020s, there was no evidence that the introduction of buyer agreements contributed to the downward trend - rather, rising home prices and technology improvements were cited as more likely factors in the decline.

"Incalculable" Damage: How a "We Buy Ugly Houses" Franchise Left a Trail of Financial Wreckage Across Texas
Carrier is accused of orchestrating a years-long Ponzi scheme, bilking tens of millions of dollars from scores of investors, according to multiple lawsuits and interviews with people who said they lost money. The financial wreckage is strewn across Texas, having swept up both wealthy investors and older people with modest incomes who dug into retirement savings on the advice of the same investment advisor used by Carver.

Georgia man sentenced to 20 years for $45K property fraud scheme
A Baldwin County man will spend the next 20 years behind bars after being convicted of real estate fraud that left a woman paying for a home she doesn't legally own, according to a Facebook post from T. Wright Barksdale with the Ocmulgee District Attorney's Office. Derrick Bernard Jackson was found guilty last week of theft by deception after prosecutors said he took $45,000 from a woman for a home he never intended to sell her, instead transferring the property to his sister.

FCT Partners with Interac to Transform Identity Verification in Real Estate Transactions
FCT, Canada's leading provider of title insurance and real estate technology, today announced an agreement with Interac Corp. to integrate the Interac Verified credential service into FCT's real estate technology solutions. The agreement and pending integration set the stage for broader adoption of secure and reusable digital identity credentials across the Canadian real estate ecosystem, marking a major step toward a national standard for digitally secure real estate transactions in Canada.

Texas Insurance Fraudster Given Prison Sentence and $350K Fine
A federal judge sentenced a McAllen woman who reportedly helped commit property and title fraud schemes to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane also ordered Mayela Saby Cantu to pay $350,000 in restitution.

Fannie Mae Releases New Title, Closing Requirements for Multifamily Mortgage Loans
Continuing a focus on knowing your clients and fraud, Fannie Mae released last week Title and Closing Requirements for Multifamily Mortgage Loans Form 4650, a comprehensive update that will impact how you set up future closings. The requirements detailed in the new Form 4650 apply to all new loans under application on or after May 8, 2025.


On the Blogs

How Security American Title Supports Right of Way (ROW) Projects
Security American's Blog
2025/05/05
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