Mortgage rates

Mortgage rates rose a basis point this week, ending the year near record lows, according to Freddie Mac.

A gauge of pending home sales fell for the third consecutive month in November, suggesting higher prices and limited inventory are slowing momentum in the housing market despite record-low borrowing costs.

Despite intensified demand and plummeting inventory, consumer home purchasing power made gains behind falling interest rates in October, according to First American.

Defying a tumbling economy, worsening health crisis and early doomsayers, Bay Area single-family home prices jumped to record levels this fall as most counties saw median prices top $1 million.

Falling interest rates more than canceled out median home listing prices, reaching an all-time time high during the month, Redfin said.

Mortgage rates yet again have dropped to a record low, even as the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury flirts with breaking back above the 1% mark, according to Freddie Mac.

New-home sales tumbled to a five-month low, suggesting red-hot demand is cooling amid resurgent COVID-19 cases and other signs of a slowing economy.

Sales of previously owned homes fell in November for the first time in six months, suggesting that surging prices and a record-low supply are constraining red-hot demand.

Southern California home prices jumped 11% in November and sales increased by 19% from last year's levels as a robust market streak continued to defy the coronavirus pandemic that saddled the region with high unemployment.

The boom continues, with refinances making up a 61% share of all mortgage loans issued that month, according to Ellie Mae.