Housing markets

Lenders — all of a sudden — are competing for homebuyers' business, a silver lining in what is becoming a more unaffordable housing market.

Also, the percentage of loan-to-value ratios in all buckets above 50% shrunk between the first and second quarter, according to a new CoreLogic report on homeowner equity.

Rate and term refinance activity has practically disappeared compared with 12 months ago, and volume for the less rate sensitive cash-out product is much lower.

BofA Securities Inc. predicts that single-family rental securitizations — which repackage a single loan tied to multiple properties — will fall to just $2 billion for the rest of 2022 as Federal Reserve rate hikes send shivers across the industry.

Frustrations with gatekeeping, a lack of diversity and the way home appraisal is overseen are spurring many practitioners to call for an overhaul of the industry's governance structure.

Home values dropped for the first time in 31 months between June and July but this is obscured by 14.5% year-over-year appreciation.

Manhattan home sales under $1 million sagged well below their pre-pandemic levels this summer, as rising interest rates cut into buyers' purchasing power and sidelined some potential consumers. 

Housing's unusually high appreciation rates have now slowed for three months straight, and the number of metropolitan areas that are considered overvalued keeps growing, according to CoreLogic.

The industry has cut tens of thousands of positions since January, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.

Listing inventory is returning to levels not seen since before the pandemic, but building material shortages and supply chain issues continue to have an impact on new construction.

Although housing costs are still far higher than levels from a year ago, monthly data showed prices declined across five U.S. regions in June, and a separate survey indicated almost one-third of sellers had recently slashed prices.

A national measure of prices rose 18% year-over-year, smaller than the 19.9% climb in May, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index showed Tuesday.

The slowdown also has not been enough to ease affordability in any state given changes in interest rates and incomes, according to research from First American.

Home Partners of America, the single-family landlord owned by Blackstone Inc., will stop buying homes in 38 US cities, becoming the latest institutional investor to back away from an overheated housing market.

U.S. pending home sales fell in July for the sixth time this year to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic, extending the housing market's sharp downturn as high borrowing costs sideline prospective buyers.

Sales of new US homes fell in July for the sixth time this year to the slowest pace since early 2016, extending a months-long deterioration in the housing market fueled by high borrowing costs and a pullback in demand.

Bank lending activity grew at a strong clip in the second quarter and continues to expand. Yet rising interest rates and recession concerns could hamper future growth.