Real estate

Mortgage applications for new home purchases increased by 12.2% in November from the same period a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Spokane, Wash., home sales continued at a strong pace in November, with the market benefiting from mild temperatures and the lack of significant snowfall.

Baton Rouge, La., area home sales plunged by 20% in October from the year before, the result of tough comparisons with the sales gains stoked by the August 2016 flood.

The average return on investment for house flippers of single-family homes and condos in the third quarter fell to the lowest average gross flipping ROI since the second quarter of 2015, according to Attom Data Solutions.

The maximum loan amount for Federal Housing Administration mortgages will go up in more than 3,000 counties for 2018.

Sale prices rose for homes bought last month on Hawaii island and Kauai, though transaction volume was mostly lower.

While consumer optimism about the nation's housing market returned to near-record levels in November, it could be tested in December as they digest the impact of tax reform.

Homeowners with mortgages have collectively seen their equity increase 11.8% year-over-year in the third quarter, according to CoreLogic.

Despite rapid price gains and tight inventory nationally, prices in many of the largest housing markets are still below the peaks reached before the Great Recession.

After over five years of steadily rising home prices, Southern California's housing market is "overvalued," real estate data firm CoreLogic reported.