Mortgage rates

Strong home purchase activity — especially by millennials — pushed up annual price appreciation in July after a disappointing June, according to CoreLogic.

The bucket of homeowners in the money to refinance includes anyone who bought a home in the last 18 months, and lenders are on the phone calling them.

Home equity lenders expect origination activity to remain dreary through next year even though consumers can potentially access more proceeds now than in 2006, a Mortgage Bankers Association survey found.

Home price gains in the Twin Cities metro have outpaced the national average for much of the year, but those gains have cooled in recent months.

In a reprieve for Southern California's sluggish housing market, home sales rose in July from a year earlier. It was the first sales increase in 12 months.

A growing share of refinances born by lower rates is pushing down risk levels for fraud on a mortgage application, according to First American.

Freddie Mac now forecasts that refinance volume will make up nearly half of third and fourth quarter production, and has increased its origination estimate for the year to over $2 trillion.

Contract signings to purchase previously owned homes fell in July by the most since early 2018, indicating a pause in buyer interest even against a backdrop of falling mortgage rates, a firm job market and steady income gains.

Mortgage debt climbed to a new peak of $9.4 trillion in the second quarter and the distribution across the U.S. varies greatly.

Mortgage rates remained near three-year lows last week, but their movement did not mirror the period's big shifts in the 10-year Treasury yield.