Origination

The decline from 4.4% in July and 6.88% a year ago brings the number much closer to pre-pandemic norms, but foreclosure starts are a different story.

Purchases jumped to a high not seen since April, while refinances were also up due to the increased use of government programs.

Contract closings decreased 2% from the prior month to an annualized 5.88 million, in line with economists’ estimates, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed Wednesday.

The difference between purchase contract prices and valuations was consistently wider than in white neighborhoods, according to a recent analysis of 12 million appraisals from the Uniform Collateral Data Portal.

Growing confidence that they’ll be able to find a new place to live will finally push homeowners to put their homes up for sale, the survey of real estate experts found.

Applications were up 9% compared to July’s total, while the average price for newly built houses hit a record.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he planned to move Tuesday to file a discharge petition to move Chopra’s nomination out of the Senate Banking Committee and onto the Senate floor.

Enact's stock offering priced on Sept. 16 in its expected range, at $19 per share, and quickly moved up to over $21.

Residential starts rose 3.9% last month to a 1.62 million annualized rate after an upwardly revised July print, according to government data released Tuesday.

Property taxes — up the most in 15 years in 2020, according to recently released Labor Department data — will likely see even sharper jumps this year.