Good morning! Today is Wednesday, February 24. Tiger Woods is stable and recovering, following surgery to stabilize his leg injured in a car crash. Illinois became the first state to sign a law eliminating cash bail. Twitter is adding a new warning label to tweets believed to contain information obtained through hacking.
And in mortgage and housing news …
HOUSING STIMULUS: The Mortgage Note reports that unprecedented liquidity in the proposed stimulus bill is poised to support continued gains in house prices, which have boomed in recent months thanks to low interest rates.
RECORD PRICES: Home prices in the United States surged 10.8 percent in 2020 – the largest annual increase on record.
OWN VS. RENT: Redfin is courting first-time homebuyers with a $608 million deal to buy RentPath. RentPath had 13 million visitors in December 2020 who may be interested in homeownership.
FLOOD DAMAGE: The cost of flood damage to U.S. homes will increase by 61 percent in 30 years.
ROCKET EXPANSION: Rocket Mortgage lands state job-creation tax credit for major expansion in Cleveland.
UWM LEADERSHIP: United Wholesale Mortgage tapped former Fannie Mae executive Desmond Smith to serve as the company’s first chief growth officer.
CONDO SALES: How your neighbors’ delinquent dues can derail your condo sale.
BLENDED REAL ESTATE: The pandemic has made the concept of the home office increasingly common, but the office as home could become a new reality with a rise in mixed-use real estate.
TOP MARKETS: U.S. News & World Report examined 96 metro areas to identify the top housing markets for 2021.
FLORIDA WALL STREET: Wealthy financiers are trying to sell their Manhattan homes and move to Florida as the city’s luxury market begins to recover from the Covid crisis.