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.

Friday, July 17, 2026

Top Stories

Fire survivors were finally ready to rebuild homes. A new barrier is leaving them ‘demoralized’

GRACE TOOHEY, Los Angeles Times
More than a year after the Eaton fire devastated their community, returning to their beloved Altadena neighborhood finally seemed within reach for Baba Singh and his family.
They had secured their insurance payout, gotten rebuilding plans approved and hired a contractor.
But then their mortgage company started withholding the couple’s insurance money it held in escrow — allocated specifically for the rebuild. The inaccessible cash continues to threaten their family’s ability to continue construction.

California sues 5 cities for missing deadlines for new housing

BOB EGELKO, San Francisco Chronicle
State officials escalated their campaign to build affordable housing in California on Thursday, filing lawsuits that accused five cities of flouting legal deadlines for submitting plans to meet housing shortages.
The cities, each sued in their county’s Superior Court, include one in the Bay Area, Half Moon Bay, along with Costa Mesa (Orange County), Calexico (Imperial County), Turlock (Stanislaus County) and Ridgecrest (Kern County). The lawsuits seek monetary penalties and court orders requiring the cities to submit housing plans within 120 days.
“California can’t solve the housing crisis while some cities sit on their hands and dare us to do something about it,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement announcing the legal actions.

National News 

Here’s why the housing market is hurting so much this summer

DIANA OLICK, CNBC
Two different reads on the housing market released Thursday point to the same problem, one that appears to be getting worse. Housing is just too expensive — to own and to build.
Pending home sales in June, a measure of signed contracts on existing homes, fell 5.4% from May, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were down 0.3% from June 2025 and were well below analysts’ expectations.
This read is based on people out shopping for homes in June and making the decision to sign a deal, so it is the most timely measure on the state of the market.

California News

Exclusive: California Forever loses $3.2 billion shipyard contract as defense startup picks Texas

LAURA WAXMANN, San Francisco Chronicle
California Forever’s bid to recruit a major industrial tenant for a planned waterfront shipbuilding facility in Solano County has slipped away, a significant blow to the ambitious but heavily scrutinized billionaire-backed plan to build an entire new city on thousands of acres of farmland. 
Defense startup Saronic Technologies, which designs and builds autonomous watercraft, has chosen Texas — where the company has been considering the Port of Brownsville — over Solano County for its $3.2 billion Port Alpha automated shipyard, according to multiple sources familiar with the negotiations. 

Mobile homes, an overlooked refuge of affordability, are disappearing in L.A. Residents fight to stay

AUDREY MCGLINCHY, Los Angeles Times
The small patch of dirt encircling Carmen Silverio Guardado’s home bears fruit — lots of it. There are pomegranates, guavas, dragon fruit and nectarines. She also grows oregano and lemongrass, with which she brews into a tea to soothe stomach issues. All of this Silverio Guardado and her husband cultivate beside the two-bedroom mobile home they have owned for 12 years. They have no plans to move — mostly because they could not afford to live anywhere else.
Mobile homes are the cheapest form of housing in California. On average, owners spend about $1,200 a month on housing, hundreds of dollars less than apartment renters and traditional homeowners, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Industry News 

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Real Estate Technology 

California rental ads would have to disclose if pictures used AI, under new bill

LILLIAN ASHWORTH, Silicon Valley.com
Rhiannon Mulligan was in the depths of house hunting in Sacramento in 2024 when she noticed a trend.
Along with her partner, Mulligan drove an hour to view a home. The two knew the listing was digitally staged, meaning all the furniture they saw in photos online would not be in the actual home.
What they didn’t expect was that the digitally added furniture would never even fit in the house.

Property News 

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In Case You Missed It 

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Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest 

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