Housing markets

Sekisui House Ltd. announced a $4.9 billion agreement on Thursday to buy MDC Holdings Inc., ikely the biggest U.S. purchase of a homebuilder by a Japanese company.

The median listing price per square foot changed an average of 11.04% from one year to the next in the top five metro areas.

Lending activity among builders surged over 22% annually in December, but the growing share of FHA-backed borrowing in the segment took a step back for the first time in four months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Single-family home construction fell by the most since July 2022, following a surge in November, while multifamily projects rose to a five-month high.

With traders reducing wagers on a rate cut at the Federal Reserve's March meeting and the yield on 10-year Treasuries rising to 4.11%, the highest since Dec. 12, real estate is primed to take a hit.

Much has been said about how millennials and Gen X have a higher homeownership rate now, but how these generations compare at age 24 is a different story.

But the index is still well below pre-pandemic levels, suggesting momentum may be slow to build with borrowing costs still twice as high as they were two years ago.

The index of mortgage applications to buy a home increased 9.2% in the week ended Jan. 12 to 162.2, the highest since July 14, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Properties in the top three ZIP codes are seen by an average of 4.5 times more unique viewers than the typical property in the U.S. and spend an average of 16.3 days on the market.

Home buyers appear to place the highest priority on affordability, with cities in the Midwest and Northeast taking the majority of top spots on Zillow's list.