Housing inventory

Pending sales of previously owned US homes rose in March by the most in more than a year as a brief dip in mortgage rates and a rising supply of houses brought out spring shoppers.

The real estate industry is at the forefront of a lobbying blitz to sway Congress to preserve the carried interest tax break that President Donald Trump wants to abolish in a giant tax bill pending in Congress.

Sales of previously owned US homes fell in March by the most since 2022 as buyers remained constrained by high mortgage rates and prices.

Homebuilding industry CEOs said tariff impacts would likely be felt in the back half of the year, but affordability concerns are applying pressure now.

Purchases of new single-family homes increased 7.4% in March to an annualized rate of 724,000, mostly driven by a surge in the South, according to government data released Wednesday.

Housing starts in the US fell in March by the most in a year, as weak demand from high prices and mortgage rates gives builders little confidence to break ground.

US homebuilder confidence barely rose this month on a pickup in current sales, though demand expectations stumbled to a more than one-year low and prices of construction materials are climbing on the heels of higher tariffs. 

One of the biggest culprits is the CFPB's qualified mortgage rule and the ever-expanding debt-to-income ratios allowed under it, writes a co-director of the AEI Housing Center.

The so-called spec home, a spin on the American dream home with standardized color schemes and toilet fixtures, is falling out of favor with some US builders.

New residential construction increased 11.2% to an annualized rate of 1.5 million in February, according to government data released Tuesday.