Housing markets

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell for a 10th-straight month in November, extending a record decline as high mortgage rates continue to stifle affordability.

Though housing is experiencing severe rate-related stress, mortgage banking remains central to the Denver-based bank's business model. The Texas market has held up better than much of the rest of the country, company executives say.

Lower rates brought some purchasers back to the market in November but activity remains lower than one year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

New U.S. home construction continued to decline in November and permits plunged as high borrowing costs paired with widespread inflation eroded housing affordability and demand.

But the lower rates of the past month did result in a $7-billion boost to its origination forecast for 2022.

U.S. homebuilder sentiment fell every month in 2022, sinking in December to a level not seen in over a decade outside of the pandemic amid elevated mortgage rates and high construction costs.

Baby boomers downsizing, millennials entering their prime homebuying years and Gen Zers going for luxe rentals in trendy cities are among the trends to watch.

The Redfin study covers property transactions between January 2021 and September 2022.

One of the biggest U.S. homebuilders is offering to sell thousands of homes to rental landlords at a time when sales to everyday buyers have slumped. 

Borrowers gained an average of $34,300 in home equity since the third quarter of last year, but that's almost half the amount of growth recorded over the summer.

But that's largely because homes are staying on the market longer — almost three weeks more than in early summer on average.

A new state study suggests that mortgage lenders are putting up barriers to home ownership among people of color.

Home prices, sales volumes, interest rates are expected to drop next year, researchers at the company forecasted.

But they will start increasing again by next October, according to a forecast by CoreLogic.

Home prices dropped again on a monthly basis in October, exacerbating the loss in home equity among recent buyers, but the size of the falloff was the smallest since June.

A record number of homes are being delisted as sellers face a sharp drop in demand, according to real estate brokerage Redfin.

The range in the size of mortgages to be insured by the agency in 2023 runs between $472,030 to $1,089,300, while maximum claims on HECMs will similarly increase.

New York, Chicago and Philadelphia led the list of large metropolitan markets considered vulnerable to a downturn, based on analysis from Attom.

Allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy these loans encourages consumers to purchase more expensive homes, the group said.

Approximately 41% of respondents to a LendingTree survey think one will occur in the next 12 months, with three-quarters feeling it may be worse than in 2008.