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 25, 2025
Top Stories
Trump just floated a tax idea that would hugely benefit California homeowners
KATHLEEN PENDER, San Francisco Chronicle (Subscription)
President Donald Trump just floated an idea that could benefit more homeowners in California than in any other state: eliminating the capital gains tax on the sale of a primary home. Under current law, homeowners who sell their primary home pay nothing on their first $250,000 (single filers) or $500,000 (married filing jointly) in profits. Anything over that is taxed as a capital gain.
New-home sales show why residential construction is in a recession
LOGAN MOHTASHAMI, HousingWire (Subscription)
In today’s report, new home sales fell short of sales estimates and experienced negative sales revisions, while inventory levels increased, which explains why residential construction is in a recession. However, today’s data doesn’t indicate a crash in new home sales. Instead, it highlights my concerns from December 2024: homebuilders are accumulating a lot of completed units for sale, and they typically refrain from increasing housing starts when the number of completed units for sale approaches 120,000. In this article, I’ll discuss the reasons behind the recession in housing starts, as well as why builders have not laid off any workers.
National News
Buying a High-End Home? A Million Dollars Mostly Falls Short.
SHAYLA COLON, The New York Times (Subscription)
The ability to buy a high-end home for under $1 million in the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas is becoming increasingly elusive. Luxury homes — those in the top 5 percent of the market by sale price — now cost over a million in all but seven of the country’s largest metros, according to a recent report from Redfin.
Why Does Renovating the Fed Cost $2.5 Billion? Asbestos, Height Limits, Lead
NICOLE FRIEDMAN, NANCY KEATES & NICK TIMIRAOS, The Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
The Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation was ambitious from the start: refurbish and modernize two stately, nearly century-old buildings in an iconic district of a major city. Then it hit the swamp. Higher-than-expected groundwater lurked beneath the site, situated around former wetlands, and needed to be drained. There was also asbestos, and toxic contamination in the soil. All of that, combined with rising costs of materials following pandemic shortages and inflation, pushed up the cost of the renovations. A project with an estimated budget of $1.9 billion in 2023 ballooned to $2.5 billion by 2025.
New York court upholds foreclosure dismissal against HSBC under FAPA
MATT SELERS, Mortgage Professional America
A New York appeals court has upheld a foreclosure dismissal under the state’s Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, applying its retroactive rules to HSBC Bank USA. The case began in 2007 when Richard and Patricia Vesely executed a note and mortgage with First Alternative Mortgage Corp. on their Sullivan County property. The loan was modified in 2010 and assigned to HSBC Bank USA in 2012. By 2011, the borrowers had fallen behind on payments, and in January 2012 HSBC issued a default letter that automatically accelerated the debt.
California News
Mayors ask for $1.8 billion in Measure W money for homeless issues, but Alameda County supervisors spread funds around
CHASE HUNTER, The Mercury News (Subscription)
Despite appeals from more than a dozen local mayors asking for all of the $1.8 billion in expected Measure W funding to be used to address homelessness in Alameda County, the Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to direct 20% of the money to fill gaps in food security, mental illness initiatives and healthcare. The debate over the money from Measure W — a one-half percent general sales tax approved by the voters in November 2020 that had been tied up in litigation until April 2025 — comes as state and federal funding cuts threaten critical safety net services.
Former Sacramento Bee site sold for $18.5M to Tim Lewis Communities; demolition begins
BEN VAN DER MEER, Sacramento Business Journal (Subscription)
A transition has begun for one of the best-known sites in Midtown Sacramento, with a new owner buying the former home of The Sacramento Bee and the building's demolition underway.
A fifth of California homes are investor-owned as state’s affordability crisis deepens – report
CY NEFF, The Guardian
One in five homes in California is owned by investors, new data reveals, in the latest sign of an affordability crisis that shows no end in sight. The figures, which come from the data tracker BatchData and were analyzed by the Orange County Register, show that California’s overall percentage of investor home ownership sits at 19%.
Industry News
Average long-term US mortgage rate eases to 6.74%, keeping home loan borrowing costs elevated
ALEX VEIGA, The San Diego Union-Tribune (Subscription)
The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage eased this week, offering little relief for prospective homebuyers facing record-high home prices. The long-term rate slipped to 6.74% from 6.75% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.78%.
NAR appoints Leslie Nettleford-Freeman to lead legal affairs, brand protection
JONATHAN DELOZIER, HousingWire (Subscription)
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has named Leslie Nettleford-Freeman as its new associate general counsel and vice president of legal affairs and brand protection. In her newly created role, she will focus on strengthening the organization’s trademark defense and intellectual property strategy. Nettleford-Freeman is a nationally recognized expert in trademark law with more than 20 years of experience in brand enforcement and legal leadership.
Home prices are higher than ever, but seller profits have slipped
JONATHAN DELOZIER, HousingWire (Subscription)
U.S. homeowners earned a median profit of 50% on home sales in the second quarter of 2025, according to an ATTOM analysis released this week. That figure marked a slight uptick from the 48.9% figure in the first quarter, but it was down from 55.6% during the second quarter of last year. Median home sale prices reached a record high of $369,000 — up 5.4% from the first quarter and 3.1% year over year. Still, the typical profit from a home sale fell to $123,000, down 5.6% from $127,990 in the second quarter of 2024.
Nation’s largest MLS platforms hit with data breach
TAYLOR ANDERSON, Inman (Subscription)
FlexMLS and Matrix provide software to major multiple listing services. A recent data breach forced users to reset their passwords — and prompted words of caution from experts.
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Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest
Saving New York’s Midcentury Signs
ANNA KODÉ, The New York Times (Subscription)
When the red-sauce joint Queen, in Brooklyn Heights, closed in 2020, David Barnett left a note on the roll gate with his contact information and an inquiry. Did they have plans for the sign? Situated just a few blocks from the courthouse, the Italian restaurant was rumored to be a meeting place for cops and mob bosses. And its glowing, red neon sign, with a crown illustration in the Q, was a neighborhood landmark.
