Housing markets

Recent existing home sales have been stronger than expected, but next year could see a market held back by the inventory shortage and higher rates.

The decline in competition might not have helped with affordability but it gave home purchasers more time to consider properties before they were snatched up.

Lenders gaze into the looking glass to forecast what’s ahead for the industry’s jobs, product mix, capital market policy and more.

U.S. home construction starts strengthened in November to the fastest pace in eight months, suggesting builders are making a bit more headway on backlogs even as supply and labor constraints linger.

“Rent of shelter” — a category that makes up a third of the CPI basket of goods and services prices — is up 3.9% from November 2020. That’s the most in 14 years but still pales in comparison to many private-sector metrics.

More than half of respondents to a recent Arizent survey think one-stop shops will be the biggest disruptor in the next three years, followed by all-cash purchase programs and iBuyers.

Now that the Department of Housing and Urban Development clarified that participating in these programs does not create a fair lending violation, lenders and fair housing advocates wonder whether more mortgage lenders will actually participate.

Rising home values also brought 70,000 properties out of underwater status during the three-month period, CoreLogic said.

The monthly pace of increases have moderated since the spring, with CoreLogic expecting annual growth to decline to 2.5% by this time next year.

Renters are three times more likely to miss their scheduled payment than homeowners, an affiliate of the Mortgage Bankers Association found.

The U.S. Treasury Department will begin developing regulations that could expand reporting requirements for all-cash real estate purchases as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to cut down on global corruption, according to two senior administration officials.

Similarities between the current rate of appreciation and what took place between 2004 and 2006 are mitigated by changes in the housing market.

Zillow Group Inc. jumped in late trading Thursday after the company said it plans to repurchase shares as it makes progress winding down its ill-fated home-flipping business.

Besides making the deduction permanent, the bill doubles the income threshold for those eligible to claim it.

The agency must raise its upper and lower levels in tandem with the new conforming loan limits by law.

The increase that followed in the pandemic’s wake is subsiding, and migration patterns are shifting, according to Redfin.

Acting Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson and the Housing Policy Council say the new amounts are not good for affordable housing.

Though unlikely to derail a hot housing market, another surge in COVID-19 cases could cloud the outlook for economic growth, analysts said.

A forward-looking gauge of U.S. home purchases rebounded in October to a 10-month high, signaling steady housing demand despite growing affordability concerns among many prospective buyers.

With home improvement spending up, more mortgage bankers are building out teams to capture the market.