HousingWire

U.S. industry trade (housing/mortgage sector)

Background

HousingWire was founded in late 2006 by Paul Jackson and Richard Bitner as a news and analysis platform for the U.S. housing and mortgage markets, launching just as the subprime crisis was beginning to unfold. By 2008 the site had published thousands of articles and built a large industry readership, establishing itself as a go-to source for mortgage professionals. In 2011 it faced criticism — including from Naked Capitalism and Shadowproof — for alleged editorial coziness with mortgage-industry advertisers, a tension common to trade media that depend heavily on industry advertising. In 2016, Riomar Capital, a search fund organized by Clayton Collins with roughly twelve individual investors, acquired HousingWire when it was generating about $4 million in revenue. Under Collins, the parent company was rebranded HW Media and has grown through acquisitions — including Real Trends (real estate brokerage data) and Altos Research (housing market analytics) — expanding from pure journalism into events and data products. Revenue has grown to roughly $20 million. Editorially, the outlet focuses on mortgage origination, servicing, real estate brokerage, and housing finance regulation; it reports on federal housing policy (FHFA, FHA, HUD, CFPB rules) in terms of business impact rather than political ideology, giving it a trade-press rather than advocacy orientation.

Sources

1. HousingWire Announces Acquisition by Riomar Capital — Berkery Noyes
2. How to Build a $5m Media Business Into a $20m Flywheel — Acquiring Minds
3. HW Media — About
4. HW Media Buys Homebuilder Media Company — A Media Operator
5. The Corruption of the Financial Press: A Look at Housing Wire — Shadowproof
6. Paul Jackson's 'Follow the Money' Shows Housing Wire Deep Financial Ties — Naked Capitalism
7. HousingWire Bias and Reliability — Biasly

Profile compiled 2026-08-31; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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