Bright spots shine through in a battered housing market

The combination of increasing home prices and elevated mortgage interest rates continues to plague residential mortgage originations. In third quarter of 2023, 1.54 million mortgages secured by residential property (one to four units) were issued in the U.S., a 3% decline from second quarter of 2023, according to Attom’s U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report. […]

Accessory dwelling units offer an opportunity for enterprising originators

Housing affordability continues to be a struggle throughout the country, and despite recent increases in new construction, there’s still a shortage of houses on the market. In the most expensive markets, people are struggling to afford rent, let alone a mortgage. In the last five years, policymakers have turned to a niche market to help […]

The office sector’s trials will continue in 2024

Despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to quell inflation by raising interest rates an incremental 100-basis points in 2023 (after increasing by 425-basis points in 2022), the economy has performed surprisingly well, avoiding the recession many forecasters had predicted. In light of the inflation rate moving closer to the Fed’s 2% target, the Federal Open Market […]