North Carolina

Charlotte's housing market got off to a slow start in 2019, and some experts say that the government shutdown is partially to blame.

The industry's largest acquisition in more than a decade will create the sixth-biggest bank in the country, with assets of more than $442 billion.

The strong economic headwinds from last fall facilitated a declining loan delinquency rate across the country, though areas hit by natural disasters had increased defaults, according to CoreLogic.

For the seventh month in a row, the number of homes sold in the Charlotte region decreased compared to last year.

Despite recovery efforts still underway, the Wilmington, N.C., real estate market seems to have rebounded from Hurricane Florence as November's number of home sales was the most for the month since the height of the housing bubble.

Other than in areas hit by natural disasters, delinquency rates are falling with help from a healthier labor market, but a rise in riskier lending habits could signal trouble for borrowers should housing conditions change, according to CoreLogic.

There was an 8% year-over-year increase in mortgage loan application defect risk in California during October and that should rise further because of the wildfires that devastated the state, First American said.

Charlotte area home sales decreased again in October, by 9.8%, marking six months straight of decline.

Excellent credit quality and strong performance of post-housing-crisis originations resulted in a steep decline in foreclosure starts in September, according to Black Knight.

There was a 1.3% uptick in mortgage application defects in September from the previous month, with states affected by Hurricane Florence showing preliminary spikes in activity following the storm, according to First American.

New-home construction fell in September on a decline in the South that may reflect disruptions from Hurricane Florence, government figures showed Wednesday.

Home sales in the Charlotte metro area plunged in September, compared to a year ago.

The mortgage delinquency rate fell to a 12-year low, with declines expected to continue as the unemployment rate stays down, according to CoreLogic.

Mortgage application defect risk is down from a year ago, but Hurricane Florence will likely tear through results in affected areas in the coming months.

The federal government has paid out $163.9 million in flood insurance for 1,100 homes in North Carolina with severe repeitive losses, which is almost 60% of their combined total value.

While the severity of Florence was reduced prior to Friday morning's landfall, mortgage servicers are taking proactive steps in addressing the emergency situation.

Home sales in the Charlotte metro region continued to decline in August, a sign that more buyers are having trouble finding houses in a tight market.

The serious mortgage delinquency rate sank to its lowest June reading in 11 years, though recent natural disasters pose risk to loan performance in affected areas, according to CoreLogic.

Casey Crawford, CEO of Movement Mortgage, bought First State Bank in Virginia last year. He has since injected more capital into the bank in an effort to reinvent it.

More Charlotte home listings saw price cuts in June than a year earlier, indicating that Charlotte’s housing market is shifting "ever-so-slightly in favor of buyers," a Zillow report says.