Home prices

While not-in-my-backyard activists have long fought new developments, local officials and business groups across the South say they've seen a heightened level of anger since the pandemic-era growth.

Home inventory on the market increased in May, but stubbornly high mortgage rates and home prices are leading to slow sales in many areas, according to reports from Redfin and Zillow.

Despite the surge of inventory, the number of available homes is still below pre-pandemic levels, while price movements show wide regional variations, ICE Mortgage Technology said.

An index of contract signings from the National Association of Realtors dropped 7.7% to 72.3, the lowest reading since the early months of the pandemic.

Prices in a measure of 20 cities increased 7.4% from a year earlier, larger than the 7.3% annual gain in February, an S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index shows.

Contract closings decreased 1.9% from a month ago to a 4.14 million annualized rate, according to National Association of Realtors data released Wednesday.

Compared to a year ago, investors bought a greater number of properties and made up a larger share of overall purchases, returning to the market faster than individual buyers, according to Redfin.

A loan that combines features of buy-before-you-sell offerings and home equity solutions might be the type of financing needed for buyers to compete in current and future housing markets, Calque's founder says.

Out of the 221 metro areas tracked, 205 had existing home price increases and just 15 reported year-over-year declines, the National Association of Realtors said.

Price growth is decelerating but still driving historic home equity gains for owners and widening the gap between the haves and have-nots in housing, ICE finds.