Daily Dose of Real Estate

Daily Dose of Real Estate for June 10

Washington’s contribution to housing finance this week was Senate Majority Leader Thune confirming the White House is looking for someone to permanently replace FHFA Director Bill Pulte at DNI — a side effect of a FISA standoff rather than anything housing-related. On the macro and policy side, the NY Fed found short-term inflation expectations easing to 3.5% even as household financial anxiety reached its highest since July 2022, and with the Strait of Hormuz still closed, today’s (June 10) May CPI — consensus near 4.2% headline — could revive talk of a hike at the June 17 FOMC.

Existing-home sales rose 3.2% in May to a 4.17 million pace, the best since December — for context, the pace has dipped below 4 million several times this year. The median price set another record at $429,300 — the 35th straight month of annual gains — while first-time buyers continue to fight their way into the market, making up 35% of sales (a five-year high). The catch, as usual, is that this “recovery” sits on inventory that is rising but still historically thin. Single-family supply hit 4.5 months in May — a 10-year high for the month, but only because the comparison set is the famine of the past decade; the level that traditionally signals a balanced market is closer to 6 months. Condo supply was reported at 4.6 months for May (and April was revised up to 6.3, its highest since 2012). So the “multi-year high” is real and still below the threshold that would actually favor buyers, with single-family sales themselves stuck at a 3.80 million annual rate, in the same range they’ve occupied since late 2022. The national price masks declines of 10–26% in markets like Austin and Oakland.

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Table of Contents

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Existing-home sales jumped 3.2% in May to a 4.17M annual pace — the strongest since December — with the median price at a record $429,300.
But supply is piling up: single-family inventory hit a 10-year high for May (4.5 months) and condo supply a 12-year high, with sales still stuck near their post-2022 floor.
First-time buyers hit 35% of May sales, the highest share since June 2020.
Mortgage News Daily’s 30-year fixed index rose to 6.68%, a third straight climb after Friday’s hot jobs report.
Optimal Blue’s May data showed lock volume down 9% month-over-month and pull-through rates weakening across both purchase and refi pipelines.
The NY Fed’s May survey showed short-term inflation expectations easing to 3.5%, but household financial worries at their highest since July 2022.
May CPI lands today (June 10); with the Strait of Hormuz still closed, an above-consensus print could push rates higher and revive Fed hike talk.
Homebuilders are increasingly competing with AI data centers for land — context piece, published ~June 2 (outside the 48-hour window). ResiClub notes U.S. homebuilding was 40 times larger than data-center construction four years ago but is now only about 8 times bigger.
ICE reported ~$47B of Q1 home-equity withdrawals, while foreclosure starts ran 26% above last year.
Washington watch: Thune says the White House is weighing a long-term DNI nominee to replace FHFA Director Bill Pulte, as a FISA standoff drags in the housing regulator.
Deals & people: Blue Owl’s $975M Northern Virginia data-center loan, HousingWire’s purchase of Keeping Current Matters, and Farmer Mac’s accelerated CEO handoff.

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE MARKETS

Existing-home sales surged 3.2% in May to the highest level since December. Sales rose 3.2% both month-over-month and year-over-year to a 4.17M seasonally adjusted annual rate, with gains in the Northeast, Midwest and South and flat activity in the West. NAR
May’s median price set a record at $429,300, up 1.3% from a year ago. That marks the 35th consecutive month of annual price gains, even as distressed sales fell to just 1% of transactions. HousingWire
Beneath the headline, supply is at multiyear highs while sales stay frozen. Single-family inventory rose to 4.5 months — the highest for any May since 2016 — and condo supply reached its highest April level since 2012, even as single-family sales remain in the rock-bottom range that began in late 2022. Wolf Street
National prices mask sharp local divergence. Single-family prices have fallen 10%–26% from peak in 15 large markets (Austin -26%, Oakland -25%) while still climbing in others (New York +5.1%, Chicago +3.9%), and condo prices are down 15%–33% in two dozen metros. Wolf Street
First-time buyers climbed to 35% of sales, the highest since June 2020. Median time on market shortened to 29 days from 32 in April, cash purchases held at 25%, and investor/second-home activity slipped to 14%. Mortgage Professional America
Zillow’s May report says the early-2026 “housing recovery” has paused, and Redfin data echoes it. Zillow attributed the stall to rates climbing back into the mid-6% range, while Redfin pegged the May median sale price at $398,771 (up 2% YoY) with pending sales essentially flat. TheStreet / Mortgage Professional America

MORTGAGE MARKETS

The 30-year fixed climbed to 6.68% on Mortgage News Daily’s daily index. Today added 0.02% after Friday’s 0.08% jump on the stronger-than-expected jobs report, leaving rates at their 3rd-highest level in nine months. Mortgage News Daily
Optimal Blue’s May data show activity cooling and conversion slipping. Total rate-lock volume fell 9% month-over-month (up 7% year-over-year), purchase loans made up 81% of volume, and purchase pull-through dropped about 539 bps to 76.7% as borrowers watched the rate market. FinancialContent / Send2Press (Optimal Blue)
ICE’s June Mortgage Monitor shows borrowers tapping equity instead of refinancing. Homeowners pulled an estimated $47B in equity in Q1 — the most for any first quarter in four years — while the population with a rate incentive to refinance shrank to about 1.8M in May, down from a 5.4M peak in late February. HousingWire
Delinquencies and foreclosures are creeping higher, concentrated among recent FHA buyers. Foreclosure starts rose to roughly 37,000 with filings up 26% year-over-year, and the strain is heaviest among borrowers who purchased from 2022 onward. The Spokesman-Review (Reuters)
Servicers are split on whether affordability is their top worry, per Fitch. A new Fitch Ratings report found nearly half of servicers at a recent roundtable flagged affordability as the central challenge, reflecting an ongoing debate about how much stress is building in loan performance. National Mortgage News

REGULATORY & POLICY DEVELOPMENTS

Federal agency output was otherwise light over the window, with the Fed in its pre-FOMC quiet period and no major Selling/Servicing Guide, Mortgagee Letter, or APM posted June 8–9.

The White House is weighing a long-term DNI nominee to replace FHFA Director Bill Pulte. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said a permanent pick is under serious consideration, a move that could ease a Democratic blockade of expiring FISA Section 702 surveillance authorities; the resolution bears on how much bandwidth Pulte — who remains FHFA director and Fannie/Freddie chairman — can devote to housing-finance priorities. The Hill
A mid-year compliance roundup flags a supervisory reset and an escrow-preemption fight headed toward the Supreme Court. The analysis notes the Second Circuit found New York’s interest-on-escrow law preempted by the National Bank Act — splitting with the First and Ninth Circuits — while the OCC presses its own preemption position, alongside fair-lending shifts tied to recent executive orders. Ncontracts
House Financial Services holds a field hearing on the structure of the Federal Reserve System this week. The Task Force on Monetary Policy convened in Oklahoma City; no housing- or GSE-specific committee action was scheduled for the week. Congress.gov Committee Schedule

ECONOMIC NEWS

The NY Fed’s May Survey of Consumer Expectations shows households more anxious about their finances.The share rating their situation “much worse” than a year ago jumped to 13.3%, the highest since July 2022, and labor-market expectations deteriorated as the perceived odds of finding a job after a layoff fell to 43.7%. Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Short-term inflation expectations eased, but home-price expectations jumped. One-year inflation expectations ticked down to 3.5% (3.1% at three years, 3.0% at five), while expected home-price growth rose to 3.5% — the highest reading since July 2022. ABA Banking Journal
With the Strait of Hormuz still closed, Redfin’s economist warns rates could climb further this week. A hotter-than-expected May CPI (June 10) and PPI (June 11) would push Fed officials to debate a hike at the June 17 meeting, after markets swung from pricing two cuts to two hikes this year. Redfin
May CPI is due today with inflation expected to run hot. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones look for headline inflation around 4.2% and core near 2.9%, well above the Fed’s 2% target amid Iran-war-driven energy pressure. CNBC
Markets have all but priced out a June rate cut and are debating hikes. With the FOMC meeting June 17 and the 10-year Treasury trading near 4.55%, investors are leaning toward a higher-for-longer stance after the resilient May payrolls print. NerdWallet

INDUSTRY NEWS

HousingWire acquired Keeping Current Matters. The deal folds KCM’s agent-education subscription platform into HousingWire Solutions alongside Altos and RealTrends — the company’s fifth acquisition since 2020 — with the aim of embedding local market data into client-facing tools. PR Newswire
Compass’s chief economist reframes the off-MLS marketing debate. Mike Simonsen argues the industry misreads private and “coming soon” listings, noting that nearly 1.4 million homes were withdrawn from the MLS in 2025 — many later relisted as new — amid the broader Compass–Zillow–MLS fight over listing distribution. Inman
Farmer Mac accelerated its CEO succession by nine months. President and COO Zachary Carpenter will become CEO on July 1, with Bradford Nordholm shifting to senior advisor and CEO emeritus through September 30. National Mortgage News
Homebuilders are increasingly competing with AI data centers for land — context piece, published ~June 2 (outside the 48-hour window). ResiClub notes U.S. homebuilding was 40 times larger than data-center construction four years ago but is now only about 8 times bigger, illustrated by D.R. Horton entering a small Ohio county where a data center then bought more than 1,000 acres nearby. ResiClub

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE MARKETS (INCLUDING MULTIFAMILY)

CREFC’s annual conference opened with a “back to fundamentals” message. With roughly 1,200 attendees at Manhattan’s Marriott Marquis, an early takeaway was that participants shouldn’t count on capitalization-rate compression to do the heavy lifting on returns. Commercial Real Estate Direct
Blue Owl Capital lent $975M against a Northern Virginia data center. The Newmark-arranged financing backs Project Helios, a newly built facility in Gainesville, Va., about 34 miles west of Washington — a fresh marker of capital flowing into digital infrastructure. Commercial Real Estate Direct
Agency lenders still dominate multifamily credit, but private-label carries higher risk. Of roughly $11 trillion in securitized multifamily mortgages, the overwhelming majority were originated by the GSEs, while the smaller CMBS slice shows higher delinquency rates. Commercial Real Estate Direct
A CMBS loan on Syracuse’s Destiny USA mega-mall is up for sale. The offering is complicated by PILOT-program bonds that also encumber the property, underscoring continued distress in regional retail. Commercial Real Estate Direct
A D.C.-area apartment community traded for $79.4M. A venture of New York Life Investment Management, Donaldson Impact Investments and Housing Initiative Partnership paid about $243,558 per unit for the 326-unit Yorkshire Apartments. Commercial Real Estate Direct
Northmarq arranged $60.83M of Fannie Mae financing for a Seattle apartment complex. The five-year, fixed-rate loan against the 216-unit Spruce property amortizes on a 35-year schedule, a sign agency multifamily lending keeps flowing despite higher rates. Commercial Real Estate Direct