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.

Friday, July 31, 2026

Top Stories

Average 30-year US mortgage rate rises to highest level in a year at 6.66%

ALEX VEIGA, San Diego Union-Tribune (Subscription)
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose for the fourth consecutive week to its highest level in a year, another setback for prospective homebuyers hoping for a break from elevated home loan borrowing costs. The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.66% from 6.58% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.72%.

'We can have seven homes or we can have 70.' In wake of Los Angeles wildfires, homeowners and developers clash

LIAM DILLON, POLITICO
LOS ANGELES — After the Eaton fire tore through Neil Tyler’s home in Altadena, he and his wife quickly set out to rebuild.
They designed their new house to resemble the old one and, with the framing complete, expect to return in the spring.
But recently the 41-year-old attorney discovered a developer’s plans to build 10 houses on a neighboring lot. It is one of more than a dozen such proposals Tyler said he and other residents have identified. If allowed to go forward, he worries the projects will encourage more developers to follow with a sea of subdivisions, erasing the patchwork of quirky, tight-knit neighborhoods that defined Altadena before the blaze.

National News 

Survey: 50% of buyers bet on lower rates to sustain homeownership

JEF LAZERSON, Orange County Register (Subscription)
A “Homeownership on the Edge” consumer survey by Truework offers some unnerving findings after polling 1,000 Americans on their home purchase in the past 24 months. Half the buyers say their mortgage would not be sustainable without refinancing, with many already delaying children, cutting essential living expenses and preparing to take on second jobs to stay in their homes.

California News

Bay Area residents more likely to own homes after leaving region, study finds

GABE AGCAOILI, NBC Bay Area
Many Bay Area residents who leave the region are finding a more affordable path to homeownership, but often at the cost of lower incomes, lower-performing schools and greater climate risk, according to a new report released Thursday by a University of California research institute.

California’s billionaire enclave ousts Miami island as most expensive ZIP Code

FRANCESCA MAGLIONE, SOPHIE ALEXANDER, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)
In the Silicon Valley enclave of Atherton, a six-bedroom, nine-bath mansion featuring a theater, a private rose garden and a spa hit the market earlier this year for nearly $32 million. It found a buyer within 72 hours, more than half a million dollars above asking.

Two cities burned in LA fires settle YIMBY lawsuit

BEN CHRISTOPHER, CalMatters
Homeowners in Malibu and Pasadena who saw their neighborhoods burn in the Eaton and Palisades fires last year will soon be able to build up to four units on their properties now that the two fire-scarred cities have settled a lawsuit brought by pro-development activists. 
The twin settlements come almost a year to the day after Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed executive orders letting local governments nullify a state housing law, Senate Bill 9, in areas deemed to be “very high” wildfire severity zones in the region’s burn scars.
That five-year-old housing law makes it easier for single-family home owners to divide up their parcels and build duplexes on each lot, potentially allowing as many as four small units where local rules once allowed only one. 

Industry News 

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Real Estate Technology 

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Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest 

This embattled consumer agency went 2 years without a director. Newsom finally appointed one

BYRHONDA LYONS, CalMatters
Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed a new chief to lead the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau, two years after the position opened and months after a CalMatters investigation exposed how the agency has failed to curb abuse in the industry.
Nicole Dragoo of Fair Oaks comes to the bureau after serving as the licensing chief at the agency that oversees California’s private postsecondary educational institutions. Dragoo’s new position requires Senate confirmation. She’s set to make $118,824.