Housing markets

The 30-year fixed is still over 20 basis points higher than its February bottom, but fell 7 basis points this past week on Iran peace hopes, Freddie Mac said.

Builder mortgage units saw Q1 profit slides (NVR down 17%) despite an 11% rise in new home loan applications. Overall homebuilder net income dropped, and sales incentives remain high.

Toll Brothers' purchase of Buffington Homes of Arkansas will extend its national outreach with a strong presence in northwest Arkansas, the company said.

The Chicago-based homeowners received a $41,000 check to pay down a portion of their existing mortgage, freeing them from the lock-in effect, DREAM product provider Takara said.

March home sales increased 31.6% from February, the largest month-over-month jump since 37.4% in 2023, according to Remax's latest national housing report.

Pending sales of previously owned US homes climbed for a second month in March as a pickup in inventory helped mitigate higher borrowing costs.

Over half of all second-home inventory in the U.S. is concentrated in just eight states, with Florida leading the pack, according to analysis by NAHB.

Developers including D.R. Horton Inc., Lennar Corp. and KB Home all missed expectations last quarter and estimates suggest both sales and earnings have fallen further as conflict in the Middle East unsettled buyers and raised costs.

About 43% of Americans upgraded their homes last year, and 33% plan to remodel in the next year, according to a recent survey from Redfin.

Sun Belt states saw a noticeable surge in liens filed last year, with Florida accounting for 17% of the national total, according to Benutech.

Three-quarters of buyers assume AI has already been embedded in the housing ecosystem, but 55% would prefer to work with a human to secure a mortgage.

This week's Freddie Mac mortgage rate survey shows rates at the lowest in four weeks, but homebuyers are giving mixed signals even with improved purchase power.

The war in the Middle East is adding to a slew of challenges already facing the construction industry in recent years, including elevated mortgage rates, labor constraints and higher prices for materials.

The US has a shortage of at least 10 million single-family homes, according to a new report from White House economists — a higher figure than some previous estimates from the government and the private sector.  

Contract closings decreased 3.6% to an annualized 3.98 million, according to National Association of Realtors data out Monday.

Economists surveyed by Wolters Kluwer are scaling back rate cut expectations as Iran conflict-driven energy costs push inflation higher, complicating the Fed's path forward.

The effective tax rate, measuring taxes relative to home prices, also increased to its highest mark in five years, according to Attom's analysis.

Roughly a third of homeowners with a mortgage rate less than 6% would not give up their rate for any reason, according to a survey of 1,000 mortgage holders.

San Francisco's median house price jumped to a record $2.15 million in March, up 18% from a year earlier as wealth generated by artificial intelligence startups flooded the city, according to brokerage Compass Inc.

Mortgage rates rising nearly 40 basis points from early-year lows have pushed some buyers out of the market, even as inventory and affordability remain better than a year ago, ICE Mortgage Technology found.