Mortgage rates

Home prices rose in April despite record unemployment and widespread shut downs, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index.

San Diego home prices continued to increase into COVID-19's second month and grew at a quicker pace than other California cities.

Despite a statewide stay-at-home order, massive job losses and an uncertain economic outlook, home prices in the Seattle area zoomed up faster in April than any large metro in the country save Phoenix.

From Southern California to the Great Lakes, here's a look at 12 housing markets with the biggest annual declines in pending sales, according to CoreLogic.

Contract signings to purchase previously owned homes surged in May by the most on record as mortgage rates fell and some states began to reopen from coronavirus lockdowns.

Sales of homes for May were down in Butler County and the Greater Cincinnati area, a trend that was anticipated due to the Ohio stay-at-home order.

But the coronavirus put a hold on the market in April and remains an overhanging cloud for the future.

Mortgage rates were flat this week and remain near all-time lows, according to Freddie Mac. But significant numbers of borrowers remain unable to take advantage of them.

Even as interest rates remained at record-low levels, mortgage application activity for both purchases and refinancings declined compared to one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

For potential higher-end homebuyers, the pandemic was merely a pause, but for those seeking affordable properties — often people of color — it created yet another barrier.