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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its December 2024 complaint against Rocket Homes Real Estate, JMG Holding Partners LLC, and the firm’s owner that alleged they violated RESPA by participating in a kickback scheme involving referrals and steering homebuyers toward Rocket Mortgage.

A former CFPB attorney shares what the bureau’s decision could mean for RESPA Section 8 enforcement moving forward.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell filed suit against a Boston-based home equity investment company alleging the company violated the state’s mortgage and foreclosure prevention laws by collecting unlawfully high interest, offering mortgage loans without adequate underwriting, offering illegal reverse mortgages and concealing the high cost and nature of its product. 

Cornerstone Capital Bank, a national provider of residential mortgage finance and loan servicing solutions, launched two joint venture mortgage companies with homebuilders in Texas and North Carolina.

Following the termination of Fair Housing Incentives Program grant funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), four members of the National Fair Housing Alliance filed a class action suit against HUD and the Department of Government Efficiency and requested a temporary restraining order against the move.

In a series of hearings in the D.C. District Court, the union representing employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau pleaded their case to end the work stoppage initiated by acting director Russ Vought and asked that the bureau be placed under a “judicially managed receivership.”

A pair of former CFPB senior counsels shared their take on recent developments within the agency.

After the Senate confirmed Bill Pulte as the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte published a series of responses to questions submitted by Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) about housing affordability, the conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises, and his views regarding multiple legislative pieces.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of the Interior formed a joint task force on federal land for housing, aimed at identifying underutilized federal lands suitable for residential development to increase the availability of affordable housing.

The Black homeownership rate experienced the largest year-over-year increase in 2023 among racial groups, but it still lags significantly behind the white homeownership rate, according to the National Association of Realtors.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) introduced legislation aimed at tackling the housing affordability crisis by kicking hedge funds out of the single-family housing market.

A group of mortgage brokers and their manager filed a motion to dismiss a complaint brought against them by the Pennsylvania attorney general alleging they violated RESPA through a kickback scheme.

The motion to dismiss argued the complaint failed to identify any referrals in exchange for payments, among other things.

Through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s complaint conciliation process, an agreement was reached between a property developer and the National Fair Housing Alliance and the Tennessee Fair Housing Council to expand accessible housing opportunities at the developer’s multi-family properties across four states.

The agreement settles a housing discrimination complaint filed with HUD in 2024.

Seven housing advocacy groups sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s newly appointed deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing asking him to maintain the Federal Housing Authority’s temporary loss mitigation program, calling it a “key source of financing for affordable homeownership.”

U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner told the city of Asheville, N.C, that it needs to remove diversity, equity and inclusion criteria from its plan on how it intends to distribute millions of dollars for hurricane disaster relief if it wants to receive the funding.

Optimal Blue’s February Market Advantage report indicated a month-over-month increase in mortgage lock volume driven by refinance activity. Rate-and-term refinances saw the biggest jump, followed by cash-out refis.

A couple whose home went through foreclosure claimed their mortgage servicer violated loss mitigation procedures in Regulation X of RESPA by engaging in dual tracking when their home was sold at foreclosure auction despite assurances the foreclosure would be rescheduled. The servicer filed a motion to dismiss.

A panel of expert witnesses testified to the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance on the complexities relating to the housing affordability crisis and the multifaceted strategies required to address it.

In a March 10 notice on the Federal Register, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it is delaying the compliance dates for the adoption of energy efficiency standards for new construction of HUD- and USDA-financed housing.

The Federal Housing Administration is extending the foreclosure moratorium that was set to expire April 8 for areas that were declared disaster areas due to wildfires in Los Angeles County, Calif.

The Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the Trump administration’s nominees to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

The Ninth District Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling, putting to rest the federal antitrust complaint filed four years ago by REX – incorporated as Real Estate Exchange, Inc – against Zillow and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) concerning NAR’s “no-commingling rule.”

In a letter to U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Scott Turner, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, and 122 Democratic representatives shared concerns over staff and funding cuts at the department led by the Department of Government Efficiency.

Waters also asked the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee to “immediately” schedule a hearing with Turner about the cuts.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded nearly $2.5 million in Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing funding across three states to assist those impacted by recent hurricanes and severe storms.

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization is seeking feedback about new specifications and enhancements to its tools designed to benefit real estate finance professionals via the Mortgage Bankers Association website.

Pending home sales fell in January, with the most significant drop occurring in the South, according to the National Association of Realtors.

After a mortgage holder filed a complaint against PHH Mortgage claiming RESPA violations in a pandemic-era loan modification, PHH filed a motion to dismiss, arguing the complaints, which involve administrative regulations, are not cognizable following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron doctrine in Loper Bright.

Jonathan McKernan, the Trump administration’s nominee to become the next permanent director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, faced some unique lines of questioning during his confirmation hearing, including how he plans to lead an agency the administration seems to be trying to dismantle.

The Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of nonprofit organizations, including the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), challenging three executive orders from President Donald Trump related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and transgender people.

The complaint argued the executive orders “frustrate NFHA’s mission to eliminate all forms of housing and lending discrimination by censoring NFHA’s speech or withholding critical federal funds, and by making it more difficult for NFHA to serve individuals against whom the executive orders discriminate.”

Homebuyer affordability declined in January, while the national median payment applied for by purchase applicants increased, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Even so, MBA is forecasting for a small increase in purchase originations this year.

Addressing the National Association of Home Builders Leadership Council, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said he would reduce regulatory burdens to ease the country’s housing affordability crisis and help builders construct more affordable housing.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced the agency will attempt to cut “costly red tape” by stopping enforcement of the 2021 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, calling it a “zoning tax” imposed on localities.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the effective date of March 17 for the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards final rule has been postponed. The delay is consistent with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order, “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” according to HUD.

The Federal Housing Administration issued a temporary partial regulatory waiver and related Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 waiver of its minimum property standards requirements regarding drainage and flood hazard exposure.

Existing-home sales fell nearly 5 percent from December to January, but rose 2 percent year-over-year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dismissed its December 2024 complaint against Rocket Homes Real Estate, JMG Holding Partners LLC, (which does business as The Jason Mitchell Group) and the firm’s owner that alleged they violated RESPA by participating in a kickback scheme involving referrals and steering homebuyers toward Rocket Mortgage.

Nearly half the states in the union filed a motion in federal court challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to defund and dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Twenty-three state attorneys general argued the administration’s actions will harm consumers and threaten the nation’s financial stability by hindering enforcement of consumer protection laws intended to safeguard against a future financial crisis.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the Phoenix Realtors association reached an agreement over a membership dispute that allows the Phoenix group to retain its NAR charter. NAR had said Phoenix Realtors’ “MLS Choice” membership offering did not comply with NAR’s constitution or bylaws.

CBC Mortgage Agency, a Native American wholly-owned and federally chartered housing finance agency, has helped 50,000 families achieve homeownership through its down payment assistance program. Most of the families serviced were first-time homebuyers, minority homebuyers, low-income households and first-generation homeowners.

While recent first-time homebuyer rates have declined nationally, Black buyers are the exception. The share of Black first-time buyers rebounded in 2022 and hit a record in 2023, outpacing the national trend, a Zillow survey found.

According to a Zillow economist, down payment assistance programs, first-time buyer tax credits and flexible lending options have all helped increase housing access.

Five Democratic Senators urged U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner to stop any additional cuts to HUD’s workforce after he terminated hundreds of probationary employees on Feb. 14. They said cutting more workers will only worsen the country’s housing affordability crisis, a problem he vowed to address.