Housing inventory

Making low-balance loans with poor economies of scale is tough in a market with slim margins, but it could have its rewards.

If current inventory shortages continue, rising costs will limit housing options for many American buyers and renters, according to a new Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies report.

Sales of new homes fell to a five-month low in May, adding to signs of weakness in the sector despite lower mortgage rates.

People electing to remain in their primary residence for longer periods took more potential home sales out of the market than lower interest rates and higher income brought in, according to First American.

Sales of previously owned homes rebounded in May to a three-month high as all regions gained amid lower interest rates and a labor market that remains strong.

Housing prices rose commensurate with the temperature, but ongoing inventory issues will keep sales in check, according to Redfin.

Prime selling season is in full swing, but despite another month of a slight increase in home sales, Charlotte still has a low supply of houses for sale.

While low interest rates stimulated demand for housing in the first half of the year, affordability problems are holding back the purchase market, a First American survey of real estate professionals said.

While single-family construction authorizations rose for the first time on a monthly basis in 2019, they trailed three-month and annual comparisons, signs of a continuing market slump, according to BuildFax.

The spring housing market brought some good news for both homebuyers and sellers as conditions eased up on both sides of the fence, according to Remax.

Sentiment among homebuilders unexpectedly posted the first decline this year, suggesting lower mortgage rates are failing to give the housing market a sustained boost amid property prices that remain out of reach for many buyers.

Housing finance agencies reported increased demand for their loan products, but at the same time the inventory shortage constrains activity and drives them to work with other public entities to find solutions, Moody's said.

With mortgage rates expected to continue their recent slides over the next 18 months, in tandem with slowed economic growth, loan originations should see a jump through 2020, according to Fannie Mae.

The pace of sales in the metro Atlanta housing market slowed last month, despite a spring surge in the number of homes listed for sale, according to the Atlanta Realtors Association.

A historically low number of homes were built in San Diego County in the first three months of 2019.

Housing prices in Boulder County are plateauing despite a low inventory, according to the latest data for May from the Colorado Association of Realtors.

Approximately two-thirds of millennial and Gen-Z renters expect to purchase a home in the next five years, although their aspirations for homeownership slipped from a year ago, a Pulsenomics survey found.

The Puget Sound housing market continues to splinter into hot and cold sectors — with substantially more heat the farther south you move — but the trend may be moderating as buyers and sellers adjust their expectations.

Mortgage application fraud risk declined for the first time since last summer because the home sales market became less competitive with an easing of the inventory shortage, First American said.

San Diego County home sales were down for the 12th month in a row in April, said real estate tracker CoreLogic.