Purchase

Although the housing market in the Twin Cities metro posted only modest gains during November, house prices rose to a new high.

The critical defect rate for closed mortgage loans continued its decline in the second quarter, as lenders benefited from increased loan volume and profitability, an Aces Risk Management study found.

Mortgage rates ended the week unchanged from the previous seven-day period, according to Freddie Mac, although not without some gyrations from the results of the elections in the United Kingdom and U.S-China trade talks.

Sales of previously owned homes declined to a five-month low in November, indicating lean inventories are holding back a residential real estate market that's been supported by low mortgage rates and job growth.

Dallas-Fort Worth home sales and construction totals are expected to rise only modestly in 2020, but the expected increases could still be enough to push area home numbers to new highs.

Southern California house prices jumped 7.5% in the 12 months ending in November, the biggest gain in the state, according to the California Association of Realtors.

With housing projected to grow hand-in-hand with the economy, Fannie Mae boosted its single-family mortgage origination outlook for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

November was another month in the latter part of 2019 where actual existing-home sales outperformed their potential, but that momentum seems unlikely to continue in 2020, First American said.

Canadian home sales picked up in November as a rebound in Toronto and Vancouver offset weakness in Calgary.

Mortgage applications decreased 5% from one week earlier as, absent any rate incentive, activity slowed because of the holiday season, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.