COVERAGE INFORMATION:

California Department of Real Estate (DRE) NEWS CLIPS service coverage:

Monday through Friday (except state holidays) each week includes electronic format articles retrieved from newspapers or news services that report real estate related news in California and some national services. Coverage is for California newspapers that are available electronically via the Internet - and any significant related breaking news.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Top Stories

Typical Homebuyer’s Down Payment Falls to $64,000 As Americans Hold Onto Cash

DANA ANDERSON, Redfin News
Homebuyers are making smaller down payments due to cooling home-price growth, a rise in lower-down-payment loan products, and less pressure to compete in bidding wars.  In dollars, down payments have essentially doubled since 2019, largely because home prices have increased so much. In percent terms, the typical down payment was 10% for many years pre-2020 before jumping during the pandemic homebuying frenzy and staying somewhat elevated since then. 

April 2026 New Home Sales – Lowest For Any April Since 2022

ORPHE DIVOUNGUY, Zillow Research
New home sales fell in April. Sales are now 11.3% lower than a year ago. The pace of sales was the slowest for any April since 2022, when mortgage rates rose sharply over a short period of time. There were 622,000 (SAAR) new single-family home sales nationwide in April. That’s 6.2% below the revised March rate of 663,000. Sales of newly built homes were 11.3% below the April 2025 estimate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

National News 

Berkshire Is Convinced the American Dream of Homeownership Will Stay Alive

REBECCA PICCIOTTO, KRYSTAL HUR, Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Berkshire Hathaway’s $6.8 billion deal to acquire a major home builder reflects its conviction that the housing market will shake off its yearslong slump and recover as it always has. “This investment is grounded in a long-term belief in the strength of America’s housing market and its underlying fundamentals, which we see as enduring over time,” Berkshire Chief Executive Greg Abel said. 

Connecticut governor signs bill restricting private listings 

LILLIAN DICKERSON, Real Estate News
On May 27, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Senate Bill 340, a multipart real estate bill that included new requirements for how residential listings can be marketed, and in New York, the state legislature passed similar legislation that will now head to the governor's desk.

How fraud has pumped US home prices

LIEZEL ONCE, Mortgage Professional America
COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud was a significant and underexamined driver of US home price inflation during 2020 and 2021, according to new research from the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. The study, led by Samuel Kruger, associate professor of finance; John Griffin, James A. Elkins Centennial Chair in Finance; and doctoral student Prateek Mahajan found that Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud accounted for 22.5% of the average national home price increase across those two years.

California News

State law will put more housing near transit stops. This SoCal map finally shows where

DAVID WAGNER, LAist
Starting July 1, a new state law will push cities to increase housing development in neighborhoods located near major transit stops. When the law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, Southern California cities began taking their best guess at where exactly those sites would be. Now, the list is out

MV Realty barred from CA over homeowner scam claims

CHRIS MALONE MENDEZ, The Real Deal (Subscription)
A legal dispute headed for Los Angeles County court involving a Florida-based real estate firm has come to a close. Last week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement with MV Realty, its CEO and its COO over a “predatory scheme” targeting “financially vulnerable homeowners,” the attorney general’s office said in a news release.

Industry News 

Clawbacks return as lenders sue LOs to return large bonuses

ANDREW MARTINEZ, National Mortgage News
Mortgage lenders are suing their former loan officers to recoup five- and six-figure sign-on bonuses. AnnieMac has filed clawback lawsuits against two former originators for $75,000 and $500,000, according to new case filings in federal court. CrossCountry Mortgage meanwhile is seeking to enforce an arbitration award of $120,000 against an ex-LO in a similar complaint in a state court. The new lawsuits are some of the first public clawback attempts after the companies filed many more cases in the wake of the refinance boom.

Real Estate Technology 

AI-Powered Study Tool Expands Into Mortgage Licensing Education

CZARINNA ANDRES, National Mortgage Professional
Artificial intelligence is making its way into another corner of the mortgage industry — licensing education. Aceable announced Tuesday the launch of Ace Mode, a personalized study platform that uses machine learning to identify knowledge gaps and tailor exam preparation to individual students. While much of the industry's investment in AI has focused on loan production, compliance, and customer-facing tools, education providers are beginning to explore how the technology can be used before an originator ever enters the workforce.

Property News 

Arizona’s largest home sells for $9M after two years under contract

CHRIS MALONE MENDEZ, The Real Deal (Subscription)
The biggest home in Arizona has a new owner with plans to sink $40 million into widespread renovations at the estate on Sugar Loaf Mountain. Pennzoil heir Walker McClure had the home built in 1967, when it was called McClure Mansion. The property was once ranked as the 13th largest residence in the United States. It still holds the title of the largest private residence in Arizona.

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