2026

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that increases benefits for veterans and their surviving families, offsetting the cost by raising fees on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) refinance transactions. The legislation — H.R. 6047, also known as the Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act of 2025 — was introduced in November by Rep. Tom Barrett...

The California Mortgage Bankers Association (CMBA) voiced strong support for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $100 million allocation for the Southern California Rebuild Fund included in this month’s revised state budget proposal, the trade group said this week. The proposed funding is designed to expand access to construction financing for homeowners affected by last year’s Southern California...

As states take varying approaches to regulating home equity investment (HEI) products, the industry faces an increasingly fragmented legal landscape shaped by consumer protection concerns and uncertainty over whether the products should be treated as mortgage loans. Under an HEI, homeowners receive upfront cash in exchange for a share of the home’s future value, typically repaying the investment when...

Chicagoland area listings are back on Zillow and Trulia as of Friday afternoon, after Chicago-based federal Judge John Tharp, Jr. granted in part Zillow’s preliminary injunction motion seeking to prevent Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) from suspending its listing feeds.  On Monday, Zillow filed the motion in its antitrust lawsuit against MRED and Compass International Holdings, after MRED notified it...

Brian Chesky’s Summer 2026 release was overshadowed by car rentals and hotel headlines. But the real shift, the one that will determine which properties win bookings, happened quietly in...

A well-designed laundry room can make everyday tasks feel more efficient and enjoyable. Here, designers share the colors, layouts and thoughtful details they used to transform dated or underperforming laundry rooms into spaces that are as beautiful as they are...

A record 45 million Americans are expected to travel over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, underscoring the resilience of consumer leisure spending even as fuel costs climb to their highest seasonal levels in four years. According to projections from the AAA, roughly 39.1 million travelers will drive at least 50 miles from home between May 21 and May 25, setting a new Memorial Day record for automobile...

Americans may need roughly $2.57 million to retire comfortably by 2043, up sharply from the $1.75 million projected for 2033, according to a 2025 Goldman Sachs retirement survey. The increase reflects years of inflation that have driven up the costs of housing, health care and daily expenses. Households headed by someone 65 or older now spend about $122,000 annually, compared with roughly $60,000 in...

A new real estate brokerage aims to eliminate traditional listing agents and listing fees altogether — a model its founder says could challenge decades-old assumptions about agent compensation. Showings announced it will officially launch May 22 in New York City, Atlanta, Chicago and Orlando. The company describes itself as the first nationwide real estate brokerage built without traditional...

Housing starts increased in April compared with a year ago, but a deeper dive into the data reveals that this uptick was driven by a noisier boost in multifamily development activity, while single-family starts declined.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s new residential construction data released on Thursday, housing starts, on a seasonally adjusted basis, ticked up 4.6% year-over-year but fell...