Housing markets

But low mortgage rates and higher wages are allowing borrowers to meet conforming loan underwriting terms — at least for now.

About 40% of likely purchasers are delaying or cancelling their activity, a Redfin survey found.

The National Association of Realtors’ index of pending home sales decreased 2.2% from a month earlier to 122.4, according to data released Wednesday.

A measure of home prices in 20 U.S. cities jumped 18.4%, down from 19.1% in September, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index showed Tuesday.

The days of sub-3 percent mortgage rates will end next year as the Federal Reserve tries to combat inflation, making it more expensive to buy a home but only slightly cooling Maine's hot real estate market, experts say.

In October, those factors outweighed a smaller rise in annual wage growth, and the gap will keep widening, according to a new First American Real House Price Index report.

While 2021 projections are unchanged from November, they are 2% higher than what the organization's economic forecast in October.

Rising Covid-19 cases in the U.S. and overseas could create supply chain and labor headwinds in the coming months, slowing construction and leading to further inventory shortages.

Economists at Realtor.com and Redfin predict that across the country, rents will grow about 7% in 2022, higher than the predicted 3% growth in median home listing prices.

First-time buyers comprised just 26% of November transactions, down from 32% a year ago and matching the lowest share since 2014, the National Association of Realtors report showed.

In four of the six periods in the last 30 years where mortgage rates increased significantly, sales also grew, First American said.

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.