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Realtor.com parent accuses Homes.com of illegally accessing documents & data used to fuel its rapid rise

Plus: 206,000 jobs added last month, Better CEO fined $5.5M

Welcome back and Happy Monday! We hope you enjoyed your Fourth of July. Today's newsletter is 528 words — a 2-minute read.

Disclaimer: Average mortgage rates as of July 05, 2024. © MND's Daily Rate Index.

1. Realtor.com parent accuses Homes.com of illegally accessing documents & data used to fuel its rapid rise

The battle between residential real estate’s biggest listing platforms is heading to federal court. Move Inc. is suing CoStar Group over allegedly stolen trade secrets, according to a complaint filed earlier this week. Move Inc. is the parent company of Realtor.com, which competes with Homes.com, one of CoStar Group’s subsidiaries.

The lawsuit alleges that one of Realtor.com’s former employees, James Kaminsky, illegally accessed the company’s proprietary information and shared it with his new employer, Homes.com, to aid the platform in its recent push for market share.

2. June jobs report: 206,000 jobs added last month

The U.S. economy added 206,000 jobs in June 2024, exceeding expectations, but the unemployment rate rose to 4.1%, its highest level since November 2021, providing a conflicting sign for Federal Reserve officials weighing their next move.

“It’s a soft landing kind of report,” Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “This does support the idea that [the Fed] will cut relatively soon, and we continue to think September is the most likely.”

3. More Nuggets

🧑‍⚖️ Vishal Garg, Better.com founder and CEO, ruled to pay $5.5M in a decade-long lawsuit. (Yahoo)

🗽 New Yorkers are reaching a breaking point with the city’s housing market, facing the tightest squeeze in more than five decades with little relief in sight. (Bloomberg)

🛖 Luxury homes are sprouting in the single-family rental sector. (HousingWire)

🎭 “Everything’s frozen”: Hack locks credit union users out of bank accounts. (ARS)

4. CFPB fair lending head to depart for Fannie Mae

Patrice Ficklin, who has served at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fair lending office since its founding in 2011, is leaving the agency to rejoin Fannie Mae to serve as the government-sponsored enterprise’s fair lending officer.

“Patrice’s leadership has shaped the CFPB’s fair lending program from the agency’s beginning,” Chopra told American Banker. “I’m grateful for everything she has done to fight discrimination and make our markets fairer.”

5. MCT: Mortgage lock activity falls by 7.84% in June

Mortgage rate lock volume declined by 7.84% in June compared to the previous month. This decline follows a brief uptick in volume at the beginning of the buying season, suggesting a continuing stalemate between limited housing supply and higher interest rates. On a year-over-year basis, though, volumes increased by 6.11%.

The limited supply of available homes coupled with mortgage rates hovering around 7% has contributed to the observed decline in activity. As the market navigates these constraints, the mortgage industry anticipates a sideways trend over the next couple of months.

☀️ You’re all caught up. See you on Wednesday!

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