Housing inventory

Contract signings fell 5.5% to 74.2 in December, according to a National Association of Realtors index released Thursday.

Sales of new US homes ended 2024 on a high note in December as customers took advantage of incentives from builders, leading to a second straight year of increased purchases.  

Contract closings of existing homes last month increased 2.2% to an annualized rate of 4.24 million, the most since February, according to National Association of Realtors data released Friday.

Los Angeles already had a housing affordability crisis before devastating wildfires burned entire neighborhoods to the ground. The disaster is making it worse. 

The residential market is expected to face challenges from stubbornly high mortgage rates and limited supply in 2025, particularly after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Wednesday indicating fewer rate cuts are coming.

Contract closings increased 4.8% to an annualized rate of 4.15 million in November, the most since March, according to data released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.

US new-home construction unexpectedly fell in November as a drop in multifamily projects mitigated a rebound in starts of single-family houses, solely in the storm-ravaged South.  

The latest plans include details on promoting housing development in underserved areas and increasing secondary market access to rural institutions.

U.S. lumber prices, which already have risen in recent months due to lower production in Canada, could see further gains after President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on trade from north of the border.

"If he manages to get through the policies that he's proposing, that will be really bad news," says Desmond Lachman, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.