Daily Dose of Real Estate

Daily Does of Real Estate for June 25

Remember how I said “don’t believe it until it’s signed”? Congress finally cleared the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act in a very bipartisan manner. Republican framing: the President is using his leverage to force action on the SAVE America Act, a national-emergency priority on election integrity, and because the 10-day clock only begins once a bill is formally presented to the White House – which Speaker Johnson has not done yet. Democratic framing: at the eleventh hour Trump refused to sign a bipartisan bill that would lower housing costs, holding it hostage to a voter-suppression measure that will never pass – proof he’s indifferent to the affordability crisis squeezing American families. You decide.

So the largest housing-affordability package in decades is law in spirit only. The timing was apt: May new-home sales fell 7.3% to a 580,000 annual pace, 6.8% below a year ago, with new inventory now at a 10.3-month supply. Builders are sitting on product, buyers are sitting on their hands, and the bill that purports to fix the supply side is sitting on a desk no one will sign. Bank of America reports that 53% of Americans now favor buying over renting, the first majority since 2023, while simultaneously naming price and rates as the reasons they can’t. Demand, as ever, is constrained by affordability rather than inventory.

Let’s get you caught up and out the door in 3 minutes. Tim

Table of Contents

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, then Trump abruptly canceled the signing, refusing to act until Congress passes the SAVE America Act voter-ID bill. CNBC
New single-family home sales fell 7.3% in May to a 580,000 annual rate, missing forecasts as affordability bit. U.S. Census Bureau
Mortgage News Daily’s top-tier 30-year fixed slipped 0.10% to 6.55%, just above one-month lows. Mortgage News Daily
MBA applications rose 1.0% for the week ending June 19, with refinances up and purchases down. HousingWire
Bank of America’s 2026 survey found more Americans favor buying a home (53%) over renting for the first time since 2023, even as affordability tops the barrier list. bankofamerica
KB Home posted Q2 EPS of $0.43, missing by two cents, on revenue of $1.11 billion that beat. Quiver Quantitative
UWM let its Two Harbors waiver window lapse without a revised bid, clearing the lane for CrossCountry’s all-cash deal.
A National Mortgage News column argues the DSCR-loan boom is masking rising risk building in the non-QM market.
Redfin data shows roughly 47% more sellers than buyers nationally and record spring concessions. Scotsman Guide
Altus pegged the CRE pricing gap between property winners and losers at the widest on record.

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE MARKETS

New-home sales drop 7.3% in May. Sales ran at a seasonally adjusted 580,000 annual rate, down 7.3% from April’s revised 626,000 and 6.8% below May 2025; the median new-home price was $424,900, essentially flat year over year. U.S. Census Bureau / HUD U.S. Census Bureau + 2
Inventory keeps building. New-home inventory rose to 496,000, a 10.3-month supply, up roughly 11% month over month, while the average new-home sale price climbed to $540,600. RISMedia RISMedia
Buyers favor owning again, but cite affordability. Bank of America’s 2026 Homebuyer Insights Report found 53% of Americans now favor buying over renting, the first majority since 2023, even as expensive prices (58%) and high rates (47%) lead the barrier list and 79% plan to move forward regardless. Bank of America Institutebankofamerica
It is a buyer’s market, and the data shows it. Redfin found about 47% more home sellers than buyers nationally, pushing spring seller concessions to record levels; Nashville led at 75.5% of sales with concessions, followed by Charlotte and Atlanta. Scotsman Guide Scotsman GuideScotsman Guide
Affordability still squeezing the low end. Realtor.com’s Joel Berner noted the share of new-home sales under $300,000 fell from a year earlier despite a roughly flat median price, a sign builders are struggling to deliver affordable inventory. RISMedia RISMedia

MORTGAGE MARKETS

30-year fixed slips toward one-month lows. The average top-tier 30-year fixed fell 0.10% Wednesday to 6.55%, just above June 16 levels, with anything lower last seen May 14, driven by quarter-end bond buying and declining oil prices. Mortgage News Daily Mortgage News Daily
Applications tick up despite a hawkish Fed. MBA’s survey for the week ending June 19 showed total volume up 1.0% (Juneteenth-adjusted), with refinances up 3% and purchases down 1%, and the 30-year conforming contract rate easing to 6.59%. Mortgage Bankers Association CUTodayHousingWire
Refi share creeps higher. The refinance share rose to 41.5% of applications, with the FHA share at 17.9%; Mike Fratantoni noted volume is running about 8% above year-ago levels despite elevated rates. HousingWireHousingWireHousingWire
A warning on the non-QM build-up. In a National Mortgage News column, Christopher Whalen argues the rapid DSCR-loan boom is masking rising credit risk accumulating across the non-QM and private-label market, a flag for secondary-market investors chasing yield. National Mortgage News nationalmortgagenews

REGULATORY & POLICY DEVELOPMENTS

Congress clears the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The Senate passed the bill 85-5 on June 22, and the House followed 358-32 the next day, sending the largest housing-affordability package in decades to the president’s desk. U.S. Senate Banking Committee U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota
Then the signing got canceled. Trump abruptly called off the Wednesday signing ceremony, saying he will not sign until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, a proof-of-citizenship voter measure stalled in the Senate, the second time in a week he has held a GOP priority hostage to that demand. NPR CNBC
What it means for homebuyers and renters. With the bill in limbo, Redfin’s Daryl Fairweather warned buyers hoping for relief may wait even longer in an inventory-starved market, though the supply provisions would take years to filter through to prices. U.S. News ABC News
What is actually in it. The final bill folds in provisions from more than 60 introduced measures, spanning a cap on private-equity single-family purchases, federal incentives tied to local homebuilding, appraiser-workforce expansion, and streamlined HUD voucher inspections. Bipartisan Policy Center Bipartisan Policy Center
House sends final text to the White House. The House gave final passage Tuesday to legislation aimed at lowering buyer costs and reining in private equity’s role in single-family housing. CNBC CNBC

ECONOMIC NEWS

Yields ease ahead of a heavy data slate. The 10-year Treasury traded around 4.447% on Wednesday, down on the day, with Q1 GDP’s third estimate and durable-goods orders both due Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET and PCE to follow Friday. The Mortgage Reports The Mortgage ReportsThe Mortgage Reports
Oil keeps drifting lower. Continued declines in oil prices supported bond demand as lower implied inflation gave Treasuries a tailwind, part of why mortgage pricing improved into quarter-end. Mortgage News Daily Mortgage News Daily
Affordability is the economic story. A soft May new-home-sales print landing the same week Congress passed a sweeping affordability bill underscores that demand remains highly rate-sensitive and the market is affordability-constrained rather than inventory-constrained. HousingWire HousingWire

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKETS (INCLUDING MULTIFAMILY)

Winner-loser pricing gap hits a record. Altus data shows the spread between the best- and worst-performing CRE assets is now the widest on record, a sign of an increasingly bifurcated market. CRE Daily
Google locks in a major Hudson Square lease. The tech giant is consolidating its New York footprint as part of a broader office-portfolio reset, a notable vote of confidence for prime Manhattan space. CRE Daily
Greystone closes a $47.25M HUD/FHA multifamily loan. The HUD-insured financing covers The View at Middlesex, a 200-unit community in Middlesex, NJ developed by Forte Real Estate Development, with the sponsor citing long-term fixed-rate debt appeal. Connect CRE Connect CRE
Walmart puts $8M into a Texas distribution center. The retailer is modernizing and automating the facility as 2026 supply-chain capital spending peaks, reinforcing industrial demand in the state. CRE Daily
Texas chases the top data-center spot. Gov. Abbott is targeting data-center investment as Texas works to claim the No. 1 position, the latest signal of power-and-land competition driving the asset class. CRE Daily

INDUSTRY NEWS

KB Home misses on earnings, beats on revenue. The builder reported Q2 EPS of $0.43 against a $0.45 estimate, with revenue of $1.11 billion topping forecasts; net income was $27.3 million, gross margin 15.2%, and the company returned more than $90 million to shareholders. Investing.com Quiver QuantitativeYahoo Finance
A margin-quality bet amid soft demand. KB Home leaned on its built-to-order model, with 73% of Q2 net orders built-to-order and backlog up 26% sequentially to 4,526 homes, while flagging the expiration of energy tax credits for homes delivered after June 30. Yahoo Finance Yahoo Finance
UWM’s Two Harbors pursuit unravels. UWM let the waiver deadline pass without submitting a revised proposal, and Two Harbors’ board reaffirmed that CrossCountry’s all-cash offer remains superior; UWMC shares slid to all-time lows around $2.06 on June 22. HousingWire HousingWireStocksToTrade
Serhant expands into Texas. The luxury brokerage opened four Texas offices, the latest sign of high-end residential firms chasing migration into the state. CRE Daily
LendingTree maps the single-parent ownership gap. New LendingTree analysis found single parents in some metros are more than twice as likely to own a home as those in the least affordable markets. National Mortgage Professional National Mortgage Professional