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, October 31, 2025
Top Stories
Fannie Mae cuts 62 jobs under FHFA’s push to streamline operations
FLÁVIA FURLAN NUNES, HousingWire (Subscription)
Fannie Mae cut 62 jobs on Thursday across its operations, technology and diversity teams as part of an ongoing strategy imposed by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte to reduce positions not related to the enterprise’s core activities.
National News
The Last Columns of Brooklyn Heights
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, The New York Times (Subscription)
One guidebook to New York City describes the house in Brooklyn Heights as follows: “Across the street is lovely #46, looking for all the world like a set from ‘Gone with the Wind.’” The Greek Revival home in question, which appears as if it’s on the verge of collapse — its columns cloaked in peeling green paint — is wedged between two, hulking modernist townhouses and is the lone holdout of what was once a set of four colonnaded homes facing a parallel row across the street.
More Home Purchases Are Falling Through in an Uncertain Economy
VERONICA DAGHER, The Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Trish DaCosta saved for more than five years to buy a home in Nashville, Tenn., and was thrilled when her offer on a roughly $400,000, three-bedroom house was accepted. Then, a month before closing earlier this year, she was laid off from her job in public relations. When she learned she lost her job, the first call she made was to her real-estate agent to pull the offer.
Related to Build More-Than-$7 Billion Data Center for Oracle, OpenAI’s Stargate
PETER GRANT, The Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Developer Related Companies has agreed to build a more than $7 billion data-center campus on farmland outside Detroit, one of the largest deals yet for this burgeoning real estate class that powers AI. Related’s 250-acre campus in Saline Township, Mich., is the fourth new site announced as part of a $300-billion contract signed between Oracle ORCL 1.69%increase; green up pointing triangle and OpenAI, which the ChatGPT maker says is part of its larger Stargate project designed to build trillions of dollars worth of new computing capacity.
California News
Homes in this Bay Area region are selling at a slower pace — and for less. What’s behind the cooldown?
SARAH RAVANI, San Francisco Chronicle (Subscription)
The drawn-out sale and the dip in price reflect a bigger shift that’s reshaping swaths of East Bay real estate: return-to-office mandates are sapping demand from suburbs like those in the Tri-Valley while heating up competition closer to San Francisco and the South Bay, where tech workers once again need to be near offices.
Exclusive: S.F.’s Presidio plans first new housing in 20 years with 196-unit apartment project
J.K. DINEEN, San Francisco Chronicle (Subscription)
San Francisco’s historic Presidio will get its first new ground-up development in more than two decades, with a 196-unit, six-building apartment complex planned on 4.6 acres of the 60-acre district once occupied by the Army’s Letterman General Hospital.
Irvine Company exits downtown San Diego with sale of One America Plaza
JENNIFER VAN GROVE, The San Diego Union-Tribune (Subscription)
Southern California real estate giant Irvine Company has completed its retreat from downtown San Diego with the sale of its flagship office tower, One America Plaza, to a familiar, high-net-worth buyer. On Tuesday, a joint venture affiliated with Sacramento-based real estate company Saca Development purchased the 658,000-square-foot, obelisk-shaped skyscraper at 600 W. Broadway for $120 million, according to property records.
Citrus Heights is studying Sunrise Mall infrastructure costs to court developers
ANNIKA MERRILEES, The Sacramento Bee
Citrus Heights will use grant funding to study infrastructure needs at Sunrise Mall, as part of the city’s ongoing effort to encourage development at the struggling shopping center. The infrastructure study is the latest in a series of moves by city officials to see Sunrise Mall — which has suffered in recent years from store vacancies and declining sales — redeveloped under an ambitious plan that includes housing, entertainment and hotels.
Industry News
Average long-term US mortgage rate dips to 6.17%, its lowest level in more than a year
ALEX VEIGA, The San Diego Union-Tribune (Subscription)
The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell for the fourth week in a row to its lowest level in more than a year. Lower mortgage rates boost homebuyers’ purchasing power. They also benefit homeowners eager to refinance their current home loan to a more attractive rate.
Fannie and Freddie build net worths for planned Q2 2026 public offering
MATT CARTER, Inman (Subscription)
For the real estate and mortgage industries, it remains to be seen how the new course the Trump administration has set for Fannie and Freddie will impact homebuyers.
Zillow focuses on consumers, agents to fuel future growth
BROOKLEE HAN, HousingWire (Subscription)
It has been a messy few months for Zillow Group, including a copyright lawsuit from CoStar, a class action consumer RESPA suit, and antitrust suits from both Compass and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While some of the listing portal giant’s competitors have said that it is a company of the past, Zillow executives are confident that their firm is well positioned to succeed for years to come.
Debate heats up around GSEs’ potentially larger role as MBS buyers
FLÁVIA FURLAN NUNES, HousingWire (Subscription)
Mortgage industry experts are divided over the idea of allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase their purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in order to reduce mortgage rates, a proposal recently suggested by trade groups. While the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) could create demand quickly amid a reduction in the Federal Reserve’s presence in the MBS market, some fear this could create a conflict of interest. They also noted that the companies’ demise in 2008 was tied to their outsized portfolios. Loan underwriting has improved significantly since then, but the memories could create political challenges.
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Aging in Place Doesn’t Mean Making Your Home ‘Soulless’
DINA CHENEY, The New York Times (Subscription)
Most older Americans want to age in place, electing to remain in their homes rather than move into senior housing facilities, according to a 2024 survey by AARP, the advocacy organization focused on older Americans. Yet fewer than 4 percent of American homes have basic accessibility features.
