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Census data isn’t the only way to track America’s diversifying population. Mortgage origination data also provides keen insight into how the U.S. is changing and how housing and income trends are impacting the nation’s various racial and ethnic groups.

Seattle-based brokerage Redfin’s latest report, based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, revealed the share of new mortgages going to white homebuyers slid from 70.4 percent in 2018 to 62.2 percent in 2023, while the share of new mortgages going to homebuyers of color climbed from 29.6 percent to 37.8 percent during the same period.

Elijah de la Campa | Credit: LinkedIn

“The pool of homebuyers taking out mortgages is becoming less white because America is becoming more diverse, and many people of color are in their prime homebuying years,” Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa said in a written statement.

“The racial wage gap, while still sizable, has also been shrinking. That has made homeownership more feasible for some Black and Hispanic people, though they’re still significantly less likely to own homes than white people.”

From 2018 to 2023, Hispanic homebuyers led the charge on the share of new mortgages taken out by homebuyers of color. This group’s share of new mortgages grew from 11 percent in 2018 to 14 percent in 2023 — a 27 percent increase.

Black homebuyers experienced a 22 percent increase in new mortgages, growing from 7.1 percent to 8.7 percent by 2023. Meanwhile, Asian homebuyers experienced a 28 percent increase in new mortgages, going from 6.4 percent to 8.2 percent during the same period.

De la Campa said the boost in new mortgage rates is attributed to population and income gains, which simultaneously have created a bigger pool of homebuyers with greater incomes.

The U.S.’s white population shrank from 84.1 percent in 1970 to 59.5 percent in 2022; meanwhile, the Hispanic population (4.1 percent to 18.8 percent) and Black population (11 percent to 12.2 percent) have grown. Redfin didn’t highlight historical population data about the Asian population because the Census lagged in properly accounting for the various ethnic groups.

The median incomes for Hispanic households (+40.2 percent), Black households (+34.7 percent) and Asian households (+36.4 percent) have grown at a faster rate than the median income of white households (+31 percent) since 2018. The median income for Black ($54,000) and Hispanic ($69,000) households is still considerably less than their white ($86,000) and Asian ($114,000) counterparts; however, the percentage gains in median incomes show a slimming racial wage gap.

“The racial wage gap remains large, but has shrunk in recent years, in part due to a tight labor market,” the report read. “When the labor market is tight, employers are often less selective and look for candidates outside of their networks, which provides opportunities for marginalized communities.”

Another factor in new mortgage application growth is current homeownership rates. Seventy-four percent of white people are homeowners — compared with 62.2 percent of Asian, 49.9 percent of Hispanic and 45.7 percent of Black people.

“Home purchases have dropped across the board over the past year due to rising mortgage rates and high home prices, but it’s notable that the declines were more severe among white people,” the report said of the overall drop in mortgage applications this year. “While white people are the most likely to be homeowners, it’s worth noting that their homeownership rate has stagnated in recent years while the homeownership rates for Hispanic, Black and Asian people have climbed — helping to narrow the gap slightly.”

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Nearly two months after beta testing, Seattle-based brokerage Redfin has launched its artificial intelligence-powered home search assistant, Ask Redfin, nationwide. Homebuyers using Redfin’s Apple iOS app will automatically see Ask Redfin on a home’s listing page after completing a quick update.

Homebuyers can question Ask Redfin about listing details, zoning limitations, homeowners association or condo fees, upcoming open houses, one-on-one touring availability, local market conditions and trends, nearby amenities, and a host of other questions related to homebuying. If the question requires a more nuanced answer than what Ask Redfin can provide, the assistant can immediately connect buyers with a licensed real estate agent.

Redfin said it has trained Ask Redfin to reject questions that violate fair housing guidelines.

“In developing Ask Redfin, we created a detailed set of instructions so it would answer questions in line with fair housing guidelines,” the company said. “We’ve been closely monitoring Ask Redfin on this front, and it’s performing well. When asked a question that touches on a potential fair housing issue, Ask Redfin appropriately says that it can’t answer the question.”

The press release said beta testing, which covered Redfin app users in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), Phoenix, Sacramento, Tampa and Washington, D.C., was successful.

More than 90 percent of homebuyers who used Ask Redfin came back to the Redfin iOS app within a week, using it almost daily. The majority of homebuyers used Ask Redfin to get additional listing details, such as the square footage, renovation history, amenities and potential HOA fees (59 percent). Ten percent of Ask Redfin users got further help from a licensed real estate agent, and 8 percent went on to request a home tour.

“We include an enormous amount of data on every listing you find on Redfin because homebuyers deserve as much insight into a home as possible,” Redfin SVP of Product and Design Ariel Dos Santos said of the tool in a previous Inman article. “Ask Redfin makes it easy and effortless for customers to find the information they want to know.”

The nationwide release of Ask Redfin comes a week before Redfin’s first-quarter earnings call.

The company shared its Q4 and FY 2023 earnings results in February, which saw slowing revenue losses and slimming net losses as the company focused on cost-cutting amid market headwinds. Redfin’s stock (NASDAQ: RDFN) has been on the uptick over the past six months, rising 0.32 percent to the $6 range.

With CoStar’s acquisition of 3D scanning company Matterport and Zillow’s investment in Listing Showcase and Real-Time Showings, analysts have a keen eye on what Redfin has up its sleeves and whether it’s enough to break the company out of its earnings and stock market slump.

At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.

Stronger lead generation systems and commission structures are driving more agents to consider switching their brokerage affiliations in the coming year, according to Coldwell Banker Real Estate’s annual Agent Priorities Report published on Wednesday.

Jason Waugh | Credit: LinkedIn

In the survey of 1,500 agents, 39 percent said they plan to switch brokerages. That’s a 56 percent increase from 2023 when 25 percent of agents said the same thing. Of the 852 respondents affiliated with Coldwell Banker, the growth in agents who said they plan to move increased marginally from 2023 (30 percent) to 2024 (31 percent).

“Given today’s challenging landscape, many agents have become more open to leaving their current company and working with a partner who best supports their personal and career goals,” Coldwell Banker Affiliates President Jason Waugh said in a written statement.

For agents who plan to switch brokerages this year, wanting more referrals and leads (52 percent), better training and education opportunities (44 percent), a better commission structure (42 percent) and better team support (42 percent) are the driving factors behind their decision.

When it comes to agent priorities, brand trust (93 percent), marketing and advertising support (88 percent), a strong brand image (85 percent), recognizability (83 percent) and leading-edge technology and tools (82 percent) topped the list.

Respondents affiliated with Coldwell Banker were more likely to cite brand trust (97 percent), marketing and advertising support (95 percent), strong brand image (95 percent), recognizability (95 percent), and leading-edge technology and tools (92 percent) as a priority when considering brokerage choice.

Coldwell Banker agents also had an increased interest in a brokerage’s luxury real estate expertise (66 percent in 2024 vs. 51 percent in 2023) and the strength of their global footprint (65 percent vs. 50 percent).

Waugh said he’s proud of the results from respondents affiliated with Coldwell Banker as the company heads toward its 118th anniversary in August.

“I’m proud to say that the Coldwell Banker network continues to find value in our products, services and resources as well as their partnership with the brand,” he said. “Our strong reputation, powerful brand image and global network equip affiliated agents to maintain a commanding presence in the marketplace.”

Coldwell Banker’s survey comes in the middle of a recruiting frenzy centered around attracting high-quality agents who have the experience and skills to navigate strong market headwinds.

Of the 1,009 agents who responded to the March Inman Intel Index, 71 percent said they received recruiting offers during the first quarter of the year. Nineteen percent said they received a recruiting call once a week, and 32 percent said they received a call once a month.

Coldwell Banker Realty president and CEO Kamini Lane offered her insights on Intel’s findings, saying a slower market stokes competition and pushes brokerages to supercharge their retention and recruitment efforts.

“When the market contracts, the cream rises to the top and the best agents are the ones who are going to get the fewer listings [that remain],” she told Intel in April. “Because of that dynamic, we naturally look for the better and best agents.”

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A year after joining eXp Realty, Tampa-based team leader Kendall Bonner has been tapped to become the brokerage’s vice president of industry relations. In her new role, Bonner will be responsible for building and strengthening eXp’s strategic relationships with industry stakeholders.

Leo Pareja | eXp Realty

“Kendall’s deep industry knowledge and commitment to excellence are exactly what we need at a time of major industry transformation,” eXp Realty Leo Pareja said in a prepared statement. “Her perspective as a leader and innovator will be invaluable in strengthening our relationships within the real estate community and enhancing our platform for agents.”

A Loyola Law School graduate, Bonner began her professional life as an attorney specializing in workers’ compensation, short sale negotiation and counseling, debt settlement and bankruptcy cases.

She transitioned to real estate sales in 2011 and opened her brokerage, RE/MAX Capital Realty, in 2014. During her tenure at RE/MAX, Bonner also built an enviable career as an author, thought leader, speaker and moderator for multiple real estate conferences, including Inman Connect.

Kendall Bonner | The Kendall Bonner Team

In February 2023, Bonner merged her 40-person brokerage with RE/MAX Alliance Group, solidifying the latter’s place as one of the largest RE/MAX franchises in Florida. However, a week after the merger, Bonner announced that her 17-person team, The Kendall Bonner Team, would be moving to eXp Realty.

“I tell people I was in the lab, learning what it takes to build a successful team and I just fell in love with that process and I spent all of 2022 growing, nurturing the team, my leadership, learning hard lessons, making investments, making mistakes,” Bonner told Inman in 2023. “And I came out of 2022 with some real clarity, which was that running a brokerage was no longer my passion and no longer a vision that I had for myself.

“So that triggered the decision to look for an amazing RE/MAX company to transition my existing RE/MAX agents, and I feel that’s what I found with RE/MAX Alliance,” she added.”They’re an amazing organization, they’ve got great leadership, they’re good humans and they have a really fantastic operation.”

Under eXp, Bonner has continued to expand her footprint. Two of Tampa’s largest real estate teams joined the Kendall Bonner Team a month after her move to eXp, ballooning her agent count to roughly 100 agents.

Bonner said she’s excited to take on a larger role within eXp and “contribute more broadly to the evolution” of the industry.

“This role offers a unique opportunity to influence how real estate professionals adapt to and lead through industry changes,” she said. “I am committed to ensuring that our eXp Realty community is empowered to excel during these dynamic times.”

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Keller Williams president and CEO Mark Willis has read the tea leaves, and they foretell another wave of consolidation amid coming changes to the buyer-broker commission structure.

Mark Willis

“We’re probably going to see a consolidation in this industry — maybe one of the largest waves we’ve ever seen,” Willis told Real Estate News on Tuesday. “I think a lot of people who are broker-owners who lead independent real estate companies are looking at their options right now.”

Willis didn’t specify the challenges independent brokers may face as the industry braces for a post-settlement world.

The National Association of Realtors received preliminary approval of its settlement terms on April 23, which includes $418 million in damages and removing cooperative compensation details from multiple listing services. The settlement also requires MLS participants to have signed buyer representation agreements before touring homes. Final approval won’t happen until November; however, the changes are expected to go into effect in July.

In addition to prepping for a new commission structure, brokerages with annual transaction volumes above $2 billion are facing a looming deadline to opt into NAR’s settlement. Some franchisers, like Keller Williams, and brokerages, like Compass, have already secured multimillion-dollar settlements.

As for the remaining lot, which includes some of the nation’s leading independent brokerages, they have until June 18 to opt in and deposit an amount equal to 0.0025 multiplied by the brokerage’s average annual total transaction volume over the most recent four calendar years into an escrow account.

“If they don’t have the ability to pay that amount, [they must] participate in non-binding mediation with the plaintiffs at their own cost,” a previous Inman article explained. “As an example of the first option, a brokerage with $2 billion average annual total transaction volume would be required to pay $5 million.”

Willis said the settlement could also lead to the consolidation of the industry’s agents, which, by best estimates, tops 1.5 million. He said some agents will leave their real estate careers behind. However, he expects a new crop of agents to come in and quickly acclimate to a new sales landscape — something Keller Williams is already capitalizing on with a slew of updated training and education courses.

“What I know is that best practices are going to start showing up,” he told REN. “If we stay calm, and don’t overreact … not only will this industry survive this, but we will thrive.”

Even with nearly 40 years of experience and insights, Willis said his predictions are just that — predictions.

“Right now, honestly, we don’t know,” he said. “It’s all speculative.”

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