Steve Thompson is a staff reporter for RealtyWire, where he covers residential real estate, mortgage trends, home sales, housing market data, real estate finance, industry regulation, and the issues affecting Realtors, buyers, sellers, lenders, and property owners.
Before joining RealtyWire, Steve worked as a mortgage broker, giving him direct experience with the financing side of real estate transactions. His background in the mortgage business gives him valuable insight into how interest rates, lending standards, affordability, buyer demand, and regulatory changes influence the broader real estate market.
Steve brings a practical understanding of home sales, market analysis, real estate trends, financing issues, and the laws and regulations that shape residential real estate. His reporting focuses on making complex market and mortgage-related topics clear and useful for readers across the real estate industry.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Central Florida and currently lives in Orlando, Florida.
Steve Thompson 
A riverfront home in Anchorage Point sold for $15 million, the highest reported sale in the Port St. Lucie metro area for the week ending September 6.
A 2018 farmhouse with a renovated 1928 stable in Aiken’s historic district sold for $2.20 million, the highest reported home sale in the Augusta, Georgia metro area for the week ending September 6, 2026.
A seven-bedroom home in The Estates at Donath Lake sold for $4.19 million, the highest reported sale in the Fort Collins metro area for the week ending September 6, 2026.
The all-stock combination announced Sept. 9 creates a middle-market apartment REIT with 44,354 units across 163 communities in 17 states, an $8.1 billion enterprise value and roughly $24 million in expected annual synergies.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey for the week ending Sept. 4 shows the 30-year fixed rate at 6.85%, refinance applications at their slowest weekly pace since May 2025, and adjustable-rate loans taking their largest share since June.
A 35-acre Kennebunkport estate built around a 1782 post-colonial house sold for $5.25 million, the highest reported home sale in the Portland, Maine metro area for the week ending September 6, 2026.
A renovated estate on nearly 14 acres in Greenway Crossings sold for $2.69 million, the highest reported home sale in the Ocala metro area for the week ending September 6, 2026.
A Dillard-Jones-built home in The Cliffs at Walnut Cove sold for $5.80 million, the highest reported sale in the Asheville metro area for the week ending September 6, 2026.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte ended a four-month limited rollout and instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept VantageScore 4.0 from every lender, effective immediately. Fair Isaac shares fell 16% on Friday as investors weighed the first real competition to FICO in mortgage underwriting.
Maryland opened applications Sept. 4 for First Homes for First Responders and Teachers, offering eligible first-time buyers a rate half a point below standard Maryland Mortgage Program pricing plus a 5% interest-free deferred loan for down payment and closing costs.
AHR took ownership of six of eight Kensington Senior Living communities for about $572 million, pushing year-to-date investments past $2 billion, and named Public Storage’s Aric Chang chief financial officer a day later.
Northwest Multiple Listing Service will launch a First Look status on Sept. 4 that hides days on market and price cuts for up to 21 days while keeping listings open to all 30,000-plus member brokers, resolving Compass’s antitrust suit.
H.R. 10184 would move the CFPB onto congressional appropriations, cut the maximum daily penalty for a knowing violation from $1 million to $50,120, raise the bank supervision threshold to $30 billion and narrow nonbank oversight of mortgage lenders.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Hunt Midwest have formed a joint venture, Two-Point Development, to serve as master developer for mixed-use districts around the club’s new Kansas City, Kan., stadium and its future Olathe, Kan., headquarters.
Rocket Companies has named Alessio Sanfilippo, most recently a Meta vice president, chief executive of Redfin effective immediately, filling a seat vacant since Glenn Kelman left in January.
A hawkish Jackson Hole debut, sticky PCE inflation, a 10.5% drop in new home sales and the end of RE/MAX as an independent company — the week’s biggest real estate stories in one place.
Freddie Mac’s 30-year fixed-rate average rose one basis point to 6.66% this week, a third straight near-flat reading, as the Kansas City Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium opened and new listings hit a four-month high.
The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge held at 3.7% year over year in July with core at 3.3%, BEA said Wednesday. Real consumer spending was flat, the saving rate rose to 3.0%, and mortgage rates stayed in the mid-6% range with the Fed still split over whether to hike.
S&P Cotality Case-Shiller and FHFA both showed home prices accelerating modestly in June, but housing lost ground to inflation for a 13th straight month and the Midwest-West gap kept widening.
The committee formed to respond to the founder’s campaign to replace the board said the decision to move on from him was unanimous among the other directors, and laid out operating results to argue the company is better off without him.
A stipulated order filed the morning trial was set to open requires Redfin to rebuild the rental advertising business it exited in 2025, and strips the restrictions the FTC said Zillow’s $100 million payment bought.
The fire that started Saturday near Verdi remains at zero containment, with damage assessments still pending across neighborhoods on the western edge of the Reno housing market.
Median listing prices fell 2.4% year over year in July as sellers priced more realistically from the start, cutting delistings and pushing contract signings to their highest level since 2022.
Massachusetts House and Senate bills tackle zoning reform through different routes — YIGBY on religious land versus statewide duplexes-by-right — after rent stabilization was knocked off the table by the courts.
Single-family starts plunged, mortgage rates eased for a second week, the $876 million commission settlements survived appeal, and Real and RE/MAX cleared the way for a Monday closing.
The Bluffs, a two-building Class A campus in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, has completed a full repositioning with more than 57,000 square feet leased, including The Honest Company’s headquarters relocation.
Greystone Capital Advisors completed a $369.6 million cross-collateralized bridge facility from PGIM covering five newly built New Jersey multifamily properties totaling 1,340 units for Capodagli Property Company.
A federal bench trial over the FTC’s claim that Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to quit the rental advertising market begins Aug. 24 before Judge Anthony J. Trenga in Alexandria, Va.
Construction payrolls grew by 22,000 in July while total U.S. employment fell 23,000, according to NAHB’s state-level breakdown of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Illinois led monthly gains; Texas posted the largest decline.
Single-family attached starts totaled 42,000 in the second quarter, down 9% year over year, pulling townhouse market share off its 2025 record high while staying well above historical norms.
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