Devin Meenan

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has seen its efforts to cancel several Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grants blocked following a lawsuit.  On Tues., March 25, Judge Richard G. Stearns in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in a lawsuit against HUD brought by the National Fair…

The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company joins push for Judge Bough recusal Judge Stephen Bough—the federal court judge who is overseeing the Burnett and Gibson lawsuits—has been called to recuse himself from the Gibson case by Hanna…

Homeowners across the U.S. are facing rising property taxes—and Florida legislators are floating proposals to not only bring down homeowners’ tax bills, but to phase out the property tax altogether.  Though facing some recent risk and decline, Florida is projected to remain one of the most booming housing markets in the country during the 2020s.…

Down payments noticeably increased during 2024, according to the latest findings from Realtor.com—the report states that 2024 saw the highest down payments in the history of this data being recorded. In Q4 2024, the median down payment on a primary residence was $30,250, up from $24,000 in Q4 2021. As a percentage, the average primary…

In January 2025, home prices across the U.S. rose by 4.1% year-over-year, per the latest findings of the S&P Global and CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index, up very slightly from 4% the previous month.  The index, which runs on a two-month lag, had previously reported a 3.6% annual increase during October 2024, a 3.8% increase during November…

The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system is an integral part of the home-selling process as it exists today. In fact, a new report by Zillow has found that if homesellers step outside the MLS network, they tend to get a lower final sale price for their listing—especially sellers from communities of color. Zillow found that…

Homebuilder confidence came in at 39 (out of 100) in March, its lowest reading in seven months, as recorded by the latest Housing Market Index (HMI) reported by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo. As measured by the index, current sales conditions for single-family homes fell three points month-over-month to 43.…

Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon. During the first week of March, mortgage rates fell to their lowest point (6.63% for the 30-year fixed mortgage) since September 2024. As of the second week of the month, mortgage rates ticked up…

Editor’s Note: The RISMedia series, Legislative Round-Up looks at pending and passed federal and state-level legislation that impacts real estate professionals. The U.S. is still adjusting to the new Trump administration, which has sought to cut numerous federal employees (including at the Department of Housing and Urban Development), and has both implemented and then retracted…

One of the bills under consideration in Congress to address the affordability crisis is the Humans Over Private Equity (HOPE) for Homeownership Act. Introduced in February 2025, the bill points to large financial entities purchasing single-family homes in bulk as a reason for high prices, and looks to remedy it with new tax statutes. The…