Westcor’s newest underwriting counsel has spent 40-plus years working in areas such as underwriting, claims, agency operations, regulatory compliance, education and legal support.

A partnership between Wholesale Title Solutions and AccuTitle will allow title service data to be imported into AccuTitle’s closing platforms speeding up the preparation of closing documents, reducing turnaround times and improving accuracy.

The median home-sale price hit a record $400,894 during the four weeks ending June 7. That marks the first time the typical American existing home has sold for more than $400,000, according to Redfin.

A coalition of financial services organizations pressed the Federal Housing Finance Agency to expedite its work toward meeting housing policy goals described in a recent executive order issued by President Donald Trump, particularly those aimed at modernizing property valuations.

During his session at the 2026 National Settlement Services Summit in Kansas City, Mo., educator and consultant Matt Lee shared an in-depth account of how he would go about infiltrating a title agency and holding its data for ransom. Lee, who serves as security and compliance senior director at Pax8, shared preventative tips and his thoughts on why cyber defenders should also know how to go on offense.

Fitch Ratings revised its 2026 outlooks for the U.S. homebuilding and North America Building Products sectors from “neutral” to “deteriorating” due, in part, to homebuilders facing weakening demand amid record-low consumer sentiment and a 30-year mortgage rate holding near 6.5 percent. Fitch expects rates to hold at that level through year-end.

Builders, remodelers and other housing industry professionals called on federal lawmakers to adopt zoning and land-use reforms, pass legislation to increase the workforce in the skilled trades and take steps to speed up the process to acquire a clean water permit in an effort to improve housing affordability and help builders to increase the production of attainable homes.

October Research, LLC will host a webinar June 17 at 2 p.m. (ET) titled “Q2 Economic Outlook” featuring Moody’s Analytics Economist Shandor Whitcher. We caught up with Whitcher ahead of his presentation to get his thoughts on the housing market.

Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. promoted a staffer to the position of Florida commercial underwriting manager. The new manager will be charged with mentoring the underwriting team.