Housing markets

The shift to working from home drove more than half of the increase in house and rent prices during the pandemic and will likely drive up costs and inflation going forward as the shift becomes permanent, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. 

When voters in Oakland, Berkeley and South San Francisco receive ballots in the mail next month, they'll be asked whether their cities should be allowed to help build more desperately needed affordable housing.

Mortgage rate shock and increased choice continued to drive more than 15% of homebuyers to back out of deals in the latest month's numbers.

These refinance transactions are being driven by the homeowner's need for cash, according to Black Knight

The only way to address inflation is for Congress to fix issues around home supply and demand, the National Housing Coalition said in reaction to the Federal Reserve's move Wednesday.

On the other hand, the economists from the UCLA Anderson Forecast claim the U.S. is not currently in a recession and that the chance of a recession in the next 12 months is less than 50%.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell for the seventh straight month in August as rising mortgage rates continued to erode affordability and deal a considerable blow to the housing market. 

While several single-family indicators rose compared with July, homebuilder authorizations for new construction continued to lag.

Because the co-buyers own 100% of the property jointly, Pairadime is different than equity sharing firms like EquiFi, Hometap and Unison, which take a stake in the property in exchange for funds.

August's 0.3% drop in prices from July was the largest in 11 years, according to the raw Zillow Home Value Index.

A gauge of U.S. homebuilder sentiment declined for a ninth straight month in September as mortgage rates continued to climb, further accelerating the housing-market cool-down.

The average accepted offer was one percentage point lower than the listing price, a Remax study found.

Of the 50 counties most at risk, nine are in and around the Big Apple, six are in the Windy City's metropolitan area, and 13 are spread through California.

Since signing those nonbanks in the second quarter, the program has added more than two dozen originators, including Gulf Coast Educators FCU.

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.