COVERAGE INFORMATION:
California Department of Real Estate (DRE) NEWS CLIPS service coverage:
Monday through Friday (except state holidays) each week includes electronic format articles retrieved from newspapers or news services that report real estate related news in California and some national services. Coverage is for California newspapers that are available electronically via the Internet - and any significant related breaking news.
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Copyright © , California Department of Real Estate
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Top Stories
New Home Sales Sink to Their Weakest Year-to-Date Pace Since 2017
ORPHE DIVOUNGUY, Zillow Research
New home sales edged higher in June, running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628,000 — up 1.6% from May, but still 5.6% below their year-ago pace. Through the first half of 2026, builders have sold fewer new homes than in any comparable stretch since 2017. The year-to-date pace is running below every year from 2018 through 2025.
Big Banks Are Wading Back Into Commercial Real-Estate Lending
BEN GLICKMAN, Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Big banks are on the hunt to grow their loan books and are turning back to an area they had shunned not that long ago. Overall, commercial real-estate mortgage loan originations in the first quarter were up more than 50% from a year earlier, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, driven in part by an 80% increase in loans from deposit-taking institutions.
National News
Home equity surge offsets slumping mortgage volume
BRAD FINKELSTEIN, National Mortgage News
The number of mortgage loans originated fell by 50% between 2021 and 2025, with refinancings down by almost 80%, as interest rates spiked off the record lows of the pandemic era. But making up the gap was gains in home equity/second mortgage lending, which in 2025 now represented an "unprecedented" 17.5% share of all mortgage transactions, a Benutech report said.
Mortgage defaults level off in June, FHA new defaults down 15%
HousingWire
New mortgage default activity remained stable in June, with new defaults among Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers falling 15% from a year earlier, marking the largest annual decline in more than four years. Serious delinquencies, meaning loans 90 or more days past due but not in foreclosure, declined to 570,000, their lowest level in six months, continuing an improvement that began in March.
California News
Lawmakers tackle a severe housing shortage for renters who have federal vouchers
MANUELA TOBIAS, JACKIE BOTTS, CalMatters
The biggest federal housing program for low-income renters is failing to help many Californians because there aren’t enough landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers for rent. State lawmakers are considering two solutions, a carrot and a stick.
Is California homeownership less obtainable than we think?
JONATHAN LANSNER, Orange County Register (Subscription)
New numbers from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis suggest far fewer Californians – and Americans, too – own a home. 41% of Californians were homeowners last year. That’s the second-lowest percentage among the states and well below the nation’s 53%. Only the District of Columbia was lower, at 35%.
Industry News
Compass and Zillow pitch competing data on private listings
AJ LATRACE, Inman (Subscription)
Compass and Zillow are pointing to dueling data as their legal fight over private listings spills into a broader battle over which model delivers better outcomes for sellers. Compass added fresh fuel to that fight Friday, releasing new research that claims sellers who began as Private Exclusives or Coming Soons sold their homes for 4.6 percent more than comparable sellers who went directly to the MLS and search portals.
Real Estate Technology
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Property News
They’re raffling off their $2-million home for $7 to travel the world: ‘If not now, when?’
LISA BOONE, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)
It began as a whimsical idea that occurred to Daniel Leigh after an idyllic trip to the United States: Sell his family’s five-bedroom home in England and travel the world with his wife, Lauren Vaknine, and their two children.
In Case You Missed It
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