Mortgage rates

Velocity Mortgage Capital's new loan for income-producing residential and small-balance commercial properties was designed to afford investors more payment certainty than traditional bank financing.

The most borrowers in three years currently qualify for refinancing as the average for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped below 4% for the first time in over a year, according to Black Knight.

Mortgage company merger and acquisition activity should continue to increase in 2019 as loan production costs rise and originations stay flat.

Mortgage application fraud risk declined for the first time since last summer because the home sales market became less competitive with an easing of the inventory shortage, First American said.

As the bond market drives yields down because of the economic turmoil, mortgage rates moved in concert, dropping below 4% for the first time since January 2018, according to Freddie Mac.

Contract signings to purchase previously owned homes unexpectedly fell in April, adding to signs the housing market is struggling to regain momentum.

Mortgage prepayment speeds may rise with the strong U.S. rate rally, and that may be cause for alarm for mortgage investors.

With the starter home inventory shortage pressuring first-time homebuyers to act, four out of five millennial purchasers lament at least one aspect of their mortgage, according to Zillow.

Consumer worries over the direction of the U.S. economy affected mortgage application activity this past week even as interest rates remained flat or declined, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

From secondary markets along the East Coast to the heart of the Midwest, here's a look at cities where consumers are losing ground in purchasing power as summer approaches, based on changes in housing values compared to local wages and mortgage rates.