After spending much of its first decade laying the groundwork for growth, Maryland-based Schaefer Homes emerged as the eighth-fastest-growing homebuilder by residential sales volume in HousingWire’s inaugural HousingWire Homebuilder Rankings.  Jim Schaefer, CEO of Schaefer Homes, founded the company in 2016 after several years in finance. Schaefer, a third-generation builder, initially operated the...

Mortgage lenders are rolling out new credit scoring models, but in the secondary market, investors and credit rating agencies are awaiting additional performance data while developing workarounds to keep loans moving through the system. Susan Hosterman, senior director for North America RMBS and covered bonds at Fitch Ratings, said the company can currently rate securitizations that feature the new...

Affordable housing advocates are warning that proposed reductions to several key U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs could make it harder for communities to address persistent affordability challenges and expand housing supply. The National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHFA), which represents state and local agencies that finance affordable housing...

Achieve has expanded its fixed-rate home equity line of credit (HELOC) program, raising the maximum loan amount to $700,000 and lowering its lowest available annual percentage rate to 5.5% for qualified borrowers, the digital personal finance company said Wednesday. The changes, which took effect June 2, also increase borrowing flexibility by allowing qualified homeowners to access up to 90% of their...

Every now and then, a property comes along that feels like somebody made a list of luxury-home wish-list items and simply checked all of them off. Swimming pool? Check. Movie theater? Check. Basketball court? Check. Guest house? Absolutely. And not just any guest house. The detached residence at 7 Freeman Street is so substantial that in many parts of the country, it would qualify as a perfectly...

Miami gets most of the attention, but step just outside the city and things start to shift in a good way. Streets get quieter, homes get bigger, and the day-to-day starts feeling a little more manageable without losing that South Florida energy. This isn’t a list of ultra-exclusive enclaves with $30M price tags and valet-only everything. Instead, these are suburbs that strike a more realistic...

These homeowners knew exactly the joyful feeling they wanted to evoke in their 1921 Tudor-style home in Minneapolis, but they needed a designer to help them put it all together. Enter Emily Pueringer, who helped them infuse their home with Scandinavian-inspired cheerfulness and color. Beyond...

Persistent Inflation, Iran War Concerns Weigh on U.S. Housing Market According to new national data from Realtor.com, U.S. home prices recorded their sharpest year-over-year declines in a decade in May 2026 as persistent inflation continued to weigh on the housing market, even as increased buyer activity and seller pragmatism signaled a gradual rebalancing. The housing sector, like the broader economy,...

Image Morgan Stanley’s Adam Kramer says the industry is now clearly nearing the end of its historic construction...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order calling for creation of a voluntary review framework for the nation’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models before public release. It also directs federal agencies to expand AI-powered cybersecurity programs and establish a new government-industry clearinghouse for software vulnerabilities. “Advanced AI capabilities make...