Housing markets

Despite an unpredictable year, one degree of normalcy has returned to Seattle-area home sales: In a dip typical of the winter season, fewer homes were on the market in November and fewer new sellers were listing.

Employment worries and the pandemic's ongoing obstacles for home buying wore down consumer confidence in November, according to Fannie Mae.

Strong demand by buyers bidding above asking price helped push up the median resale price of single-family homes on Oahu to $872,500 in November, the second highest ever.

Mortgage rates dropped a basis point this week, reaching the lowest level since Freddie Mac started tracking this data, even though yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury increased 7 basis points.

The head of the Federal Housing Administration said Congress should consider whether to continue allowing the loan floor and ceiling to remain tied to changes in the conforming mortgage limit.

This fall's red-hot housing market in Duluth, Minn., has more than made up for time lost to the pandemic this spring.

October's annual appreciation rate was at its fastest since April 2014, CoreLogic said.

Tough competition for home listings makes consumers more likely to misrepresent themselves on loan applications.

Metro Denver's housing market seems unstoppable, setting record after record in the resale market and leading the country for the gain in pending new home sales.

A gauge of contract signings to purchase previously owned homes unexpectedly declined for a second month in October as higher prices and a limited number of listings impeded momentum in the housing market.

Oklahoma City area homebuilders are building more houses than they have in seven years, but the market keeps soaking them up, as well as previously owned homes — amid a pandemic and rolling business shutdowns.

Marin County, Calif., detached home sales in October were up 25% over last year as the coronavirus pandemic continued to shake up conventional market trends.

Closed sales of single-family homes in the Hartford region increased 36.31% in October compared to a year ago, the Greater Hartford Association of Realtors reported.

The year-over-year increase in monthly page views for properties hit a high for the year in large metropolitan areas as gains in rural locations decelerated.

New-home sales in the U.S. held up in October, remaining near the best pace since 2006 and well above pre-pandemic levels, the latest sign that record-low mortgage rates are underpinning robust buyer interest.

Default risks soar in minority neighborhoods during challenging economic times because, data shows, homes there are overpriced relative to incomes. Zoning and other changes could make loans more affordable by boosting housing stock and driving down prices.

San Diego home prices went up the third fastest in the nation in September and appreciated at a pace not seen in more than six years.

The price increase illustrates the extent to which federal rescue programs and a supply-demand imbalance have been counterweights to economic pressures from the pandemic.

Overall housing value growth continued in the third quarter, as some markets more than doubled the national average, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Home Price Index.

Tampa Bay's real estate market continued to charge forward in October, marking the fifth straight month of mostly robust numbers since the onset of the pandemic slowed down sales this spring.