Signals: What We're Tracking
A Texas judge blocked a DOJ rule requiring all-cash buyers in real estate deals to submit personal data (including Social Security numbers) to a federal database.
- Point: Industry leaders say it's a compliance burden, with 28% of buyers paying cash last year (NAR).
- Counter: Officials say they're combatting money laundering, with nearly $2.3 billion in illicit funds trading through real estate between 2015 adn 2020. [Read more→]
By the Numbers
23
That's the number of U.S. single-family home builders acquired or announced for acquisition by Japanese firms since 2020. Slowing U.S. home construction hasn't phased them. [WSJ→]
Fannie Mae now accepts crypto-funded mortgages. Borrowers need a Coinbase account, and the currency can't be traded once it's put up as collateral. [Get the details→]
- Why it matters: It's not the first mortgage product to accept crypto, but the first government-backed entity.
- More: The plan is to expand to stocks, mutual funds, etc., targeting younger buyers.
Heard!
"It’s been quite prominent to have people buying [homes] ... for their children. They’re scared that, one day, their five-year-old or 10-year-old will have to buy a home and they’ll be out of the market."
—Broker on a recent $760,000 two-bedroom sale in Fremantle, Western Australia, purchased for the buyers' children ages 9 to 12. It's part of a broader local trend of parents buying now for kids who won't need the home for years. [Read more on the sale→]
