Home prices

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.

Prices nationally climbed 6.4% from a year earlier, an S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index shows. That's larger than the 6% annual gain in January. 

A majority of consumers earning more than $100,000 annually said they were concerned about their own ability to purchase a home, demonstrating how affordability issues are impacting those at many socioeconomic levels, the University of Michigan study found.

Affordability challenges also have some aspiring homeowners taking second jobs or looking to draw from retirement savings, according to Redfin.

Changes resulting from a recent case settled by the National Association of Realtors could encourage sellers to negotiate lower commissions. But the industry is rife with speculation that agents will find ways to discuss commission splits through other methods.

In an address on Tuesday, economic advisor Lael Brainard also discussed the controversy surrounding the president's proposed title waiver program.

Regardless of the effect housing prices have on ballot decisions, almost two-thirds of respondents indicate that current economic trends left them feeling negative about the economy, Redfin said.

Until Congress addresses the federal deficit, the tendency will be for higher long-term interest rates regardless of what the Fed does with the short end of the yield curve, writes the Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

Prices nationally rose 5.5% from a year earlier, according to data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

Each state was rated on a number of factors in five categories, including affordability, overall well-being, quality and cost of healthcare, weather and crime.

The top five states have an average realtor commission rate of 6.04%.

Equity-rich mortgages — those that have a loan-to-value ratio of 50% or lower, meaning the borrower's equity stake is at least half the property's value — decreased to 46.1% from 47.4% the prior quarter, according to the US Home Equity & Underwater Report published by real estate data firm ATTOM. 

A national gauge of prices climbed 0.2% in November from October, according to seasonally adjusted data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller. That's slower than the 0.6% monthly gain in October.

The National Association of Realtors' index of contract signings increased 8.3% to 77.3 after holding at a record low a month earlier, according to data out Friday.

Bidding wars are also coming back into play in several markets across the country, with the Northeast, in particular, seeing increased activity, according to Redfin.

The median listing price per square foot changed an average of 11.04% from one year to the next in the top five metro areas.

Overall, U.S. home prices increased 5.4% in the year ending in November, CoreLogic's latest Home Price Index report found.