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, April 3, 2026

Top Stories

Housing demand holds up despite mortgage rates at yearly highs

LOGAN MOHTASHAMI, HousingWire (Subscription)
Housing demand remained positive year over year, but momentum cooled as mortgage rates ended the week at 6.64% and purchase apps slowed to 5% YoY. Inventory rose to 713,549, while the 10-year yield hit 4.48% intraday amid Iran-related volatility. 

Office Conversions Set Another Record

LEW SICHELMAN, National Mortgage Professional
Spaces originally built for desks and conference rooms are being recast as apartments with kitchens and baths at a record pace, according to a new report. As of early 2024, 90,300 converted apartments were under construction, an increase of 70,600 from 2023. This marks another record year for office-to-apartment conversions, representing four times the number of converted apartments in 2022, according to RentCafe’s annual count.

National News 

The cost of FICO mortgage credit reports has soared for borrowers

JEFF LAZERSON, Orange County Register (Subscription)
Last November, Fannie Mae announced it was no longer going to use credit report scores in underwriting decisions. Freddie Mac made the same decision long before Fannie did. The two organizations are government-sponsored enterprises chartered by Congress to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the U.S. housing market. They both use credit scores for risk-based mortgage pricing.

The HOA fee shock: Millions paying at least $6,000 a year, squeezing affordability

MATT SEXTON, Mortgage Professional America
Housing affordability challenges are being discussed at all levels of the country right now, from individual brokerage offices all the way up to Capitol Hill. There’s another growing cost that brokers are going to have to spend an increasing amount of time preparing buyers to pay. Homeowners association (HOA) fees and condo fees have also soared, and a new study from LendingTree puts a spotlight on how much homeowners are paying in big cities.

The Great Housing Mismatch: Empty Nesters Own 28% of the Nation’s Large Homes, Millennial Families Own 16%

DANA ANDERSON, GRISHMAN BHATTARAI, Redfin News
Baby boomers living in one- to two-adult households own 28% of large homes in the U.S. By comparison, millennials with children living at home own 16% of those houses—barely more than half as much. Gen Z parents own less than 1% of the nation’s large homes. Baby boomers with households of three adults or more own an additional 7% of the country’s three-bedroom-plus homes (which we also refer to as “large homes” in this report). Those are likely made up of adult children living with their parents. 

California News

Bay Area town says its location makes housing complicated. Newsom says build or get sued

KASIA PAWLOWSKA, SFGate
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a serious warning to 15 communities across the state: Come up with a housing plan, or get sued. The communities on the list have 30 days to respond to Notices of Violation about the requirement to submit a plan showing how they will meet housing needs for residents of all income levels to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for review. The statement warned that failure to do so will lead to a lawsuit, like the kind Huntington Beach keeps losing.

Downtown L.A.’s cratering real estate market is changing — rich renters are buying their buildings

ROGER VINCENT, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)
As the office market bottoms out after a long fall, renters are swooping in to buy their own buildings. Occupant businesses are seizing the opportunity to become owners, especially in downtown Los Angeles, where glittering high-rises have plummeted in value since occupancy dropped during the pandemic. It has never fully recovered, but investors believe the market has at least stabilized.

Industry News 

NAR thought home sales would spike this year. Not anymore, thanks to volatile mortgage rates

TAYLOR ANDERSON, Inman (Subscription)
Heading into 2026, the National Association of Realtors’ Lawrence Yun provided perhaps the rosiest outlook among housing economists who thought 2026 might turn a corner after three years of sales languishing around 4 million units. Yun’s had predicted a 14 percent jump in home sales this year. But now that’s no longer his expectation, he told Inman exclusively.

Real Estate Technology 

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Property News 

How to Protect Your Home From Damage or Theft During an Open House

ROBYN A. FRIEDMAN, Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
Sellers of luxury homes often have art on the walls, valuable wines in the cellar and expensive jewelry in dresser drawers. A pricey vase on a table can be easily knocked over. Prescription drugs like opioids stashed away in a cabinet can be valuable when sold on the black market. And, at an open house or showing, potential buyers expect to look inside a home’s closets and explore the space. So what happens if something is damaged—or worse, stolen—during a showing or open house? And how can you prevent that from happening in the first place?

Designs for New York’s A.D.U.s Are Here. These Are Our Favorites

TIM MCKEOUGH, New York Times (Subscription)
Last month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the latest push to encourage the construction of A.D.U.s, also known as ancillary dwelling units, in New York, including the introduction of preapproved architectural plans. The city released 11 preapproved designs by various architects for backyard A.D.U.s. At the same time, it launched ADU for You, a website that aims to make building such a structure easier with a property look-up tool and a step-by-step guidebook.

In Case You Missed It 

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Resources, Webinars, and Other Items of Interest 

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