Homebuilders

The Houston region registered increases in new-home sales and prices in December, bucking the trends in other large Texas cities, a new report showed.

PulteGroup's housing-finance unit recorded a year-to-year decline in its capture rate for the fourth quarter, as competition in the market intensified.

Portsmouth, N.H., officials have been talking for years about the need for more housing in the city.

The percentage of first-time homebuyers financed through builder D.R. Horton's in-house mortgage unit has risen notably as market trends have driven it to intensify its focus on lower-priced housing.

The real estate industry is expecting homebuilders to add more inventory this year, but new-home sales tanked in the closing months of 2018, according to Redfin.

The real estate industry is expecting homebuilders, with the aid of local governments, to add more financially attainable starter homes to the market and ease burdens for buyers, according to Redfin.

Mortgage applications for new homes declined again as worries over the stock market and the global economy outweighed lower interest rates for potential buyers, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Sentiment among homebuilders rose for the first time in three months amid a decline in borrowing costs, a sign that housing may stabilize in the year ahead even as the industry remains in a broad slowdown.

North Texas homebuilders eased off construction in the fourth quarter as some buyers took a break from the housing market.

Lennar Corp., the first big homebuilder to report in this earnings cycle, surged after its chairman said buyer traffic improved in December as mortgage rates declined.