Home prices

The national median payment applied for by purchase applicants rose from $2,025 in December to $2,070 last month, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Home prices edged up nationwide, but gains were modest and uneven. Major indexes agree on direction, differ on size, as 2025 posted weak growth.

Residential lending remains steady in select cities as resilient housing markets, strong employment, limited supply, and migration trends shape borrower demand.

The typical homebuyer's down payment in the United States decreased 1.5% year over year to $64,000 in December, Redfin said.

Contract closings decreased 8.4%, the biggest drop since February 2022, to a 3.91 million annualized pace in January, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday.

The income needed to afford a home had been rising on an annual basis nearly every month for five years, but affordability has been improving since the summer.

The brokerage alleges Zillow uses "anticompetitive tactics" to bar listings that haven't been posted to a local multiple-listing service, or MLS, within 24 hours of them being publicly marketed. 

Less than 45% of mortgage residential properties in the United States were equity-rich last quarter, a 1.5-percentage-point drop from the third quarter.

The average homebuyer who purchased a home below the asking price last year received a 7.9% discount, the largest since 2012, Redfin found.

While FHFA reported a year-over-year increase in national home values in November, the Case-Shiller HPI saw flat annual growth as well as monthly decreases.

Hartford, Connecticut, topped Zillow's list of the hottest housing markets this year on the back of its nation-leading home-price appreciation forecast.

Home prices are now something Americans can wager on. Polymarket partnered with Parcl to offer prediction markets tied to housing price indices.

Rochester, New York, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, stood atop Realtor.com's list for the second consecutive year, due to their affordability.

Annual home-price appreciation ended last year at 0.7%, the smallest calendar-year increase since 2011, when prices dropped 2.9%, according to ICE.

National home prices grew monthly and annually in October, but considerably less than last year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Home prices rose 0.2% nationally month-over-month in November, but there were an estimated 37.2% more sellers than buyers in the market, Redfin said.

More than 80% of mortgage brokers expect business to grow in 2026, mainly through the strengthening of referral networks and the expansion of non-QM offerings.

After home equity surged in 2023, average gains slowed last year before falling into negative territory over the past 12 months, Cotality said.

Hartford, Connecticut, Rochester, New York, and Worcester, Massachusetts, headed the list of the 100 largest metro areas in the country, according to Realtor.com.

Forty percent of Americans planning to buy or sell a home in 2026 worry about a potential market crash, according to a new report from Clever Offers.