Housing markets

In a Senate hearing, Director Sandra Thompson said a raise to the required income threshold provided to affordable housing was on the table, while housing regulators also faced questions related to property insurance hikes and title insurance waivers.

Contract closings decreased 4.3% from a month earlier to a 4.19 million annualized rate, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday.

Conventional lending drove volumes higher, particularly in the purchase market, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

While newly constructed home mortgage applications rose both on a monthly and annual basis, the gains were slower than typical.

Residential starts decreased 14.7% in March to a 1.32 million annualized rate, the lowest since August, government data showed Tuesday.

The former Realtor says a lack of teamwork between real estate agents and lenders in today's climate could compromise buyers and sellers.

A pair of metrics that examine competition in the marketplace went in different directions in March, Zillow found.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of housing market conditions held at 51 in April, still the highest since July but breaking a string of four straight monthly gains, according to data released Monday.

Lumber prices climbed higher for the first time since July, but prospects for single-family construction to grow look promising based on early-year data.

More than a quarter of the respondents to a Redfin survey don't know how much their agent got, with 19% unaware of who actually paid them.

The downward trend comes as servicers and agencies continue to implement programs aimed at keeping borrowers in their homes.

While refinances surged, a subdued purchase market resulted in flat borrowing activity for a third straight week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Since the launch of vacant-loan sales, a majority have come from properties located in 10 states, HUD reported.

Despite signs of inventory returning, prices and loan amounts are trending higher this year, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

But the pace of home price growth between January and February was nearly double the level seen prior to the pandemic.

Higher costs than expected, not just for the mortgage but for repairs and more, have recent buyers' regretting their purchase, Clever RE and Redfin found in separate reports.

Affordability challenges also have some aspiring homeowners taking second jobs or looking to draw from retirement savings, according to Redfin.

Mortgage payments rose 10% year-over-year to an all-time high for March, Redfin said.

The Midwest was the main driver of the increase in pending sales, with a 10.6% jump, while contract signings in the South edged up 1.1%.

State and local governments borrowed nearly $9 billion for affordable housing so far this year — the most for the period in at least a decade.