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, September 11, 2026

A Century to Build Enough Affordable Rentals

ELIZABETH A. HARRIS, New York Times (Subscription)
The United States needs millions more units of rental housing, but with numbers so large, the dilemma can be hard to conceptualize. A report produced by the National Multifamily Housing Council and the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate has defined the shortage of housing in a different way: In most of the country, it would take more than 100 years to address the problem by relying on subsidized affordable housing with policies currently in place.

Inventory Recovery Fails To Revive Purchase Market

CZARINNA ANDRES, National Mortgage Professional

Existing-home sales fell 2% from July and 1.2% from a year earlier in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. It was the third consecutive monthly decline and the slowest sales pace since June 2025. Existing-home sales have remained near historically weak levels since 2023.

National News 

Americans slam the brakes on homebuying as prices and rates rise

ALEX VEIGA, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes declined in August to their slowest annual pace in more than a year as home shoppers grappled with rising mortgage rates and home prices.

Putting the ROAD Act into action faces a funding and HUD gauntlet

TYLER WILLIAMS, HousingWire (Subscription)

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act authorizes new programs and major regulatory changes, but most provisions need appropriations and rulemaking. HUD must complete 9 rulemakings and 70% of 125 federal actions, pointing to timelines into 2028. 

Mortgage Applications Decline for Sixth Straight Month in August

CATHERINE KOH, Eye on Housing

Mortgage application activity continued to decline in August as elevated US treasury yields pushed mortgage rates higher. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, declined 3.2% month-over-month in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline. Compared to a year ago, total mortgage applications declined 9.1%.

California News

S.F. Mayor Lurie unveils plan to protect renters amid AI-fueled housing ‘emergency’

J.D. MORRIS, San Francisco Chronicle (Subscription)

Mayor Daniel Lurie is stepping up efforts to counter the skyrocketing rents sweeping through San Francisco amid the AI boom, a bid to address concerns that the city is too expensive for all but its richest residents. The proposals come as the mayor faces mounting pressure to take bolder action in response to the city’s worsening affordability problems.

VA homeless housing in West L.A. estimated to cost a record $1.25 million per unit

DOUG SMITH, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)

A long-promised makeover of the VA’s West L.A.’s historic Building 13 will create just 24 units of homeless veteran housing at an estimated $1.25 million per apartment, likely a record-setting cost. The renovation, financed through VA funds and tax credits, highlights tension over the campus’s future, pitting housing plans against earlier visions of a bustling veterans town center.

Industry News 

Fifth Circuit upholds dismissal of NAR three-way agreement suit

BROOKLEE HAN, HousnigWire (Subscription)

The Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal of Luz de Amor Eytalis’s antitrust lawsuit alleging NAR and Texas Realtor groups required three-way membership to access the MLS. The court left intact a 2025 ruling that the complaint did not plausibly show antitrust injury or a conspiracy. 

Real Estate Technology 

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Property News 

‘Trying to steal a house’: How a Sea Cliff home sparked SF’s strangest property dispute

ANYA SCHULTZ, San Francisco Standard

Of the hundreds, if not thousands, of San Francisco homes that police allege have been inhabited by squatters (police do not keep an active count but have logged nearly 4,000 squatter-related calls over the past decade), few have flummoxed authorities like 250 32nd Ave.

“Price of paradise”: Malibu sinkhole re-opens debate on coastal real estate

KARI HAMANAKA, The Real Deal (Subscription)

As Malibu continues to reel from the devastation of last year’s Palisades fire, a sinkhole this week under Nicolas Cage’s driveway dredged up old concerns about living on the coast. Tuesday’s incident prompted the city to declare a local emergency and evacuate 31 properties as the city remains on alert about the possibility of other erosion issues in the Palisades fire burn areas along Pacific Coast Highway.

In Case You Missed It 

California celebrates grand opening of state-funded affordable homes for seniors

DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL

Thanks to California’s investments to clean up a formerly contaminated site in West Oakland, 50 new affordable homes will serve the region’s seniors. This project, known as Friendship Senior Housing, supports long-term revitalization efforts in the area and addresses housing insecurity among seniors in one of the region’s most impacted environmental justice communities.

Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest 

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