Mortgage rates

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.23% for the week ending March 23, down from last week when it averaged 4.3%.

Purchases of new homes increased in February to a seven-month high, indicating the effects of the recent rise in borrowing costs on the residential real estate market have been modest.

Mortgage applications decreased 2.7% from one week earlier after the Fed announced a rate hike, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

February homes sales fell 2.6% in Wisconsin, but a shortage of homes on the market is leading to higher prices.

With interest rates on the rise, analysts say the Fed could start shrinking its unprecedented $1.75 trillion position in mortgage-backed securities by year-end.

Homes for sale listings are scarcer than they've ever been entering the spring selling season.

Mortgage rates are being pushed higher by the same economic factors that led the Federal Open Market Committee to increase short-term rates.

The strongest pace of single-family homebuilding in nearly a decade drove residential housing starts to a four-month high in February.

Slim pickings put a lid on home sales in the Twin Cities metro last month, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors said.

Confidence among homebuilders is the strongest since the mid-2000s housing boom as sales prospects improve despite rising mortgage rates.