Earlier today, March 19, 2026, a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, granted summary judgment in favor of a title company plaintiff, Flowers Title Companies, LLC, which challenged that the FinCEN Residential Real Estate Transfers Rule (RRE Rule) exceeded FinCEN's statutory authority under the Bank Secrecy Act. The case was decided on cross-motions for summary judgment, meaning both parties agreed there were no disputed facts and the case turned entirely on questions of law. As part of his ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle denied FinCEN's cross-motion for summary judgment, and ordered that the RRE Rule be vacated in its entirety and remanded to FinCEN. 
 
The government may seek a stay of the vacatur pending appeal, or appeal directly to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
 
Specifically, the court found that FinCEN failed to demonstrate how non-financed residential real estate transactions involving entities or trusts are categorically "suspicious," noting that individuals routinely conduct such transactions for entirely legitimate reasons, including saving on financing costs and structuring holdings through LLCs for liability and tax purposes. The court also found FinCEN's reliance on a statistic showing that approximately 42% of transactions captured by its Geographic Targeting Orders involved parties flagged in Suspicious Activity Reports to be unpersuasive, noting that the GTOs covered only a narrow, geographically targeted subset of transactions and did not support a nationwide categorical finding of suspicion.
 
The Court also found that a provision in federal law that authorizes FinCEN to require domestic financial institutions or nonfinancial trades or businesses to "maintain appropriate procedures, including the collection and reporting of certain information" – 31 U.S.C. § 5318(a)(2) – merely allows FinCEN to prescribe procedural requirements, not independently impose substantive reporting obligations such as those required by the RRE Rule. Adopting FinCEN's broader reading, the Court noted, would render the more limited reporting authority in § 5318(g)(1) superfluous.
 
Having concluded that the Rule exceeded FinCEN's statutory authority, the Court vacated the Rule under 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) of the APA. The Court found vacatur to be the appropriate remedy, noting that the Rule's deficiencies make it unlikely FinCEN could justify the Rule on remand, and that vacatur would simply restore the pre-Rule status quo.
 
CLTA will monitor for further developments and provide updated information to members as quickly as possible.

Bulletin 25/26 - 66
March 19, 2026

The report tracks home price changes less than four weeks behind real time at the national, state and metropolitan (Core-Based Statistical Area) levels and includes metropolitan price tiers that segment sale transactions into starter, mid and luxury tiers. The next report is due out this week.

​Last Thursday Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.11%. The survey is focused on conventional, conforming, fully amortizing home purchase loans for borrowers who put 20% down and have excellent credit. 

​The Wall Street Journal recently reported that inheritance is one of the last reliable ways for younger Californians to own their first home. The Journal reported that about 18% of all property transfers in the state last year, representing nearly 60,000 homes, were made through inheritance, according to a recent analysis by real-estate data firm Cotality. That share is a record for California in data going back to 1995, up from 12% in 2019. It is also roughly double the national share of 8.8% last year.

​Newrez, a top five mortgage originator and servicer, has launched Newrez TitlePass within its wholesale channel. Newrez reports that its TitlePass is currently offered in 18 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

With new information collection and reporting regulations set to go into effect on March 1, 2026, FinCEN published about an additional 100 frequently asked questions (FAQs) relating to its Residential Real Estate Rule. 

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced in January that joint venture (JV) companies between a title insurance company and real estate entities will dissolve and compensate impacted consumers as part of an $850,000 settlement relating to allegations of illegal referral practices.

The Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to issue guidelines, review regulations, and implement requirements targeted at policies that facilitate the sales of single-family homes to institutional investors. .

According to ALTA’s latest Market Share Analysis, the title industry nationwide generated $4.9 billion in premiums during the third quarter of 2025, up 14.2% compared to the same period during 2024.