Housing News Archive

Fri, April 25, 7:54 PM

Existing Home Sales at 5 Month Lows - Fri, April 25, 7:54 PM

As is the case for the monthly data on New Home Sales from the Census Bureau, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Existing Home Sales report does not make for exciting news these days. It'...

Fri, April 25, 7:19 PM

New Home Sales Running Near Highest Pace Since 2022 - Fri, April 25, 7:19 PM

The Census Bureau released March New Home Sales data this week, and it was near the best levels seen since early 2022. Before you get too excited about that, a caveat is in order. Sim...

Fri, April 25, 7:01 PM

Mortgage Applications Dropped Sharply in Response to The Recent Rate Spike - Fri, April 25, 7:01 PM

After the big spike seen 2 weeks ago, mortgage rates remained elevated enough to greatly dampen the demand for refinancing according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) weekly applicati...

Thu, April 17, 8:02 PM

Don't Read Too Much Into Builder Confidence (Yet) - Thu, April 17, 8:02 PM

The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo publish the Housing Market Index (HMI) each month, otherwise known simply as "builder confidence." This month's index came ou...

Thu, April 17, 7:32 PM

Home Construction Remains Volatile Despite Steady Flow of Building Permits - Thu, April 17, 7:32 PM

One would think that the pace of new residential construction largely mirrors the pace of filings for building permits. And while that is generally true in the bigger picture, there can be notice...

Thu, April 17, 6:18 PM

Mortgage Applications Pull Back From 5 Month Highs - Thu, April 17, 6:18 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) mortgage application survey was at the highest combined level since October in last week's data--a move largely driven by the a sharp drop in interest ra...

Fri, April 4, 6:59 PM

Mortgage Applications Ebbed This Week, But Next Week Could Be a Different Story - Fri, April 4, 6:59 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released the latest mortgage application data this week showing a modest 1.6% decrease from the previous week. A slight uptick in purchase application...

Fri, March 28, 9:16 PM

Pending Home Sales Crack Half-Hearted Smile Amid Longer Term Depression - Fri, March 28, 9:16 PM

The National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) tracks purchase contract signings that have not yet turned into Existing Home Sales. Things haven't been going well for eithe...

Fri, March 28, 8:19 PM

Purchase Applications Improve; Refinancing Ebbs - Fri, March 28, 8:19 PM

This week's update on refinance application demand accurately reflects the fact that rates came into the week near their recent highs, but managed to fall in line with recent lows several days la...

Fri, March 28, 7:52 PM

New Home Sales Should Come With a Warning - Fri, March 28, 7:52 PM

It's not uncommon for certain medications to come with warnings about avoiding certain activities like driving or operating heavy machinery due to the risk of drowsiness. But medications aren't t...

Fri, March 28, 7:29 PM

Home Price Growth Remains Drama-Free - Fri, March 28, 7:29 PM

There are two dominant home price indices released each month in the U.S. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is responsible for the most all-inclusive tally of home prices via its Ho...

Fri, March 21, 8:04 PM

Highest Existing Home Sales in a Year - Fri, March 21, 8:04 PM

As is the case with a majority of housing and mortgage market data these days, the Existing Home Sales data from NAR is heavily dependent on context. To be sure, the headline is true. You'd have ...

Fri, March 21, 7:49 PM

Refi Demand Remains Elevated, But Off Recent Highs - Fri, March 21, 7:49 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association conducts a weekly survey on the level of mortgage applications, both for purchases and refinances. Both data series continue to be a tale of two decidedly d...

Fri, March 21, 7:25 PM

Builders Broke More Ground Than Expected in February - Fri, March 21, 7:25 PM

The Census Bureau released its New Residential Construction report this week, frequently referred to by its principal component "housing starts" (a term for the start of the first phase of new ho...

Fri, March 21, 7:03 PM

Builder Confidence Hits 7 Month Low in March - Fri, March 21, 7:03 PM

The National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (aka "builder confidence") hasn't been in a purgatory of sorts, ever since the big interest rate spike in the 2nd half of...

Fri, March 7, 7:25 PM

Big Bounce in Refi Demand Thanks to Lower Rates - Fri, March 7, 7:25 PM

As we noted last week, the timing of the improvements in mortgage rates meant that the previous survey of mortgage applications from the MBA was unable to capture what would likely prove to be ...

Fri, February 28, 8:16 PM

Why Didn't Refi Demand Spike This Week? - Fri, February 28, 8:16 PM

As is the case almost every week of the year, the Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly mortgage app survey this week, showing the changes in purchase and refinance applications. We ...

Fri, February 28, 7:57 PM

New Home Sales Drop 10.5%. Should You Care? - Fri, February 28, 7:57 PM

The Census Bureau released new home sales data for January this week, and the annual pace was a seemingly significant 10.5% lower than last month's pace. But before you devote even one extr...

Fri, February 28, 7:36 PM

Home Price Growth is Probably The Last Thing to Worry About These Days - Fri, February 28, 7:36 PM

The massive spike and subsequent correction in home price appreciation (mid-2020 through early 2023) generated lots of opinions and concerns about the fate of the housing market. Early on, the fe...

Thu, February 27, 8:05 PM

Pending Home Sales Hit Lowest Level Since Records Began in 2001 - Thu, February 27, 8:05 PM

The National Association of Realtors released its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) today, which measures home purchase contracts that have been signed, but not yet closed. The index typically corr...

Fri, February 21, 7:59 PM

Refi Apps Still Near Best Levels Since October, Despite Larger Decline This Week - Fri, February 21, 7:59 PM

Per the latest release from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), both refinance and purchase indices decreased this week. In terms of the change from the previous week, it was the biggest drop...

Fri, February 21, 7:30 PM

Building Permits Staying Fairly Calm as Housing Starts Whipsaw - Fri, February 21, 7:30 PM

The Census Bureau released its New Residential Construction report this week, frequently referred to by its principal component "housing starts" (a term for the start of the first phase of new ho...

Fri, February 21, 7:01 PM

Builder Confidence Dropped, But Not Enough to Jump to Conclusions - Fri, February 21, 7:01 PM

The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) along with Wells Fargo released the monthly builder confidence index this week, and it came out much weaker than expected. With tariff and immigrat...

Fri, February 14, 7:47 PM

Refi Demand at 3 Month High Thanks to Lower Rates - Fri, February 14, 7:47 PM

In this week's update on mortgage applications from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), purchases continued a modest retreat but refinance demand improved for the 2nd week in a row. This was ...

Wed, February 5, 8:35 PM

Refinance Applications Tick Back Up as Rates Play Ball - Wed, February 5, 8:35 PM

There are two main styles of measurement when it comes to keeping track of mortgage rates : daily and weekly. Sometimes, the differences in methodologies mean that two reputable sources ca...

Thu, January 30, 8:24 PM

Pending Home Sales Pull Back From Best Levels Since April 2023 - Thu, January 30, 8:24 PM

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) for December this morning. Pending sales measures the number signed purchase contracts for existing h...

Tue, January 28, 8:22 PM

Home Price Appreciation Ran Just Above Expectations in November - Tue, January 28, 8:22 PM

Both S&P Case-Shiller and the FHFA released national home price indices this morning. In both cases, November's prices were slightly higher than expected. For the Case Shiller data, t...

Fri, January 24, 8:16 PM

Existing Home Sales Inch Up to Highest Levels Since February - Fri, January 24, 8:16 PM

It's no mystery that 2024 hasn't been a stellar year for home sales and many other housing metrics. Today's release of December's Existing Home Sales from the National Association of Realtors (NA...

Fri, January 24, 7:52 PM

Highest Purchase Applications in a Year? Technically, Yes - Fri, January 24, 7:52 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) weekly mortgage application survey showed a modest decrease in refinance applications and an even more modest increase in purchase applications. At these ...

Fri, January 17, 8:40 PM

Homebuilder Confidence Consolidation Continues - Fri, January 17, 8:40 PM

While it would be technically accurate to point out a slight increase in January's homebuilder confidence (officially the National Association of Homebuilders Housing Market Index or HMI ), the ...

Fri, January 17, 8:16 PM

Housing Construction Bounced Back in December Thanks to Multifamily Sector - Fri, January 17, 8:16 PM

The US Census Bureau released its New Residential Construction report for December today. The report measures building permits, the start of the construction process (housing starts), and h...

Wed, January 15, 8:13 PM

Mortgage Applications Improved Even as Rates Moved Higher - Wed, January 15, 8:13 PM

There hasn't been meaningful change in economic data that measures activity in the housing and mortgage markets. In a nutshell, activity has been drifting along at long-term lows. The wee...

Fri, January 10, 10:09 PM

Mortgage Applications Don't Have Much to Lose - Fri, January 10, 10:09 PM

2024 has been one of those "it is what it is" sort of years for activity in the mortgage market. There were signs of hope over the summer months as rates fell enough to make for a noticeabl...

Fri, January 3, 8:49 PM

Home Prices Remain The Housing Market's Biggest Mixed Blessing - Fri, January 3, 8:49 PM

Blessings, curses, enigmas, paradoxes, etc... The state of home price appreciation in the U.S. is all of the above. The positive case for home prices is as simple as glancing at the most re...

Fri, January 3, 8:22 PM

Mortgage Application Activity Evaporates as Data Catches Up With Rates - Fri, January 3, 8:22 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) didn't publish updated weekly application numbers last week, which meant that this week's data had to play catch up with any changes in market conditions.&n...

Mon, December 30, 8:11 PM

Pending Home Sales at Highest Level in Almost 2 Years - Mon, December 30, 8:11 PM

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) releases monthly reports on both existing and pending home sales. The latter tracks signed purchase contracts that have not yet closed. As such, it's se...

Mon, December 23, 8:08 PM

New Homes Sales Bounce Back After Hurricane Season - Mon, December 23, 8:08 PM

Those who spend any time digging into home construction and home sales figures in the U.S. know that, of the 4 census divisions, the South accounts for about twice as much activity as the other 3...

Thu, December 19, 8:33 PM

Highest Existing Home Sales Since March - Thu, December 19, 8:33 PM

Just in time for the big jump in interest rates seen after yesterday's Fed announcement, the latest Existing Home Sales data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows sales at the h...

Wed, December 18, 9:06 PM

Modest Refi Surge Was Fun While it Lasted - Wed, December 18, 9:06 PM

Heading into the first part of December, mortgage rates were at their lowest levels in a month and a half. Much of the improvement from the recent highs occurred in a single week (the las...

Wed, December 18, 8:40 PM

Highest Building Permits Since February Despite Slower Housing Starts - Wed, December 18, 8:40 PM

The Census Bureau releases its report on New Residential Construction each month which offers 3 key metrics: building permits, housing starts, and housing completions. Of those, the first t...

Tue, December 17, 8:24 PM

Builder Confidence Remains Low, But Sales Expectations Are Increasing - Tue, December 17, 8:24 PM

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo publish the Housing Market Index (HMI) each month. The industry refers to this as "builder confidence" and December's number came ...

Wed, December 11, 8:08 PM

Mortgage Applications Surge (Relatively) as Rates Drop (Relatively) - Wed, December 11, 8:08 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association is out with the latest survey of mortgage applications and refinance activity led the charge this week. In fact, purchase activity declined a bit and refis ...

Wed, December 4, 8:07 PM

Mortgage Purchase Demand Continues Surging, Sort Of... - Wed, December 4, 8:07 PM

Everything's relative. The recent crop of weekly mortgage application data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is no exception. While we've seen several examples of shor...

Fri, November 29, 5:23 PM

Home Mortgage Purchase Applications Highest Since February - Fri, November 29, 5:23 PM

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly application survey results on Wednesday. The highlight was a 12.43% increase in purchase applications from the previous week. ...

Tue, November 26, 3:31 PM

New Home Sales Sharply Lower in October, But There's a Catch - Tue, November 26, 3:31 PM

Even on a good day, the Census Bureau's New Residential Sales report has a notoriously wide margin of error. But today's 12.8% margin of error isn't even the best counterpoint to today's os...

Tue, November 26, 2:56 PM

Latest Home Price Numbers, Including a New Conforming Loan Limit - Tue, November 26, 2:56 PM

There are two key, big picture home price indices in the U.S. They come out every month, but with a 2 month lag. That means we're getting September's prices today. The t...

Thu, November 21, 8:53 PM

Uncommon Pattern Emerging in Existing Home Inventory - Thu, November 21, 8:53 PM

As you may have gleaned from our coverage of new home sales, construction, builder confidence, and mortgage apps recently, there are only so many ways to describe the same phenomenon. Today...

Wed, November 20, 8:41 PM

Mortgage Applications Technically Improve - Wed, November 20, 8:41 PM

First thing's first, mortgage applications increased last week, both for purchases and refinances! It was the first improvement for refi demand since mid September, when rates were well into thei...

Tue, November 19, 9:09 PM

Two Ways to Look at Residential Construction Slowdown - Tue, November 19, 9:09 PM

The most common interval for scheduled economic data is "monthly." That means that things like inflation, sentiment, job counts, unemployment, retail sales, and many other economic metrics ...

Mon, November 18, 8:28 PM

Like Many Housing Metrics, Builder Confidence is Just Waiting For Lower Rates - Mon, November 18, 8:28 PM

Historically low interest rates may not have guaranteed historically high levels of housing activity, but exceptionally high rates have definitely muted activity in a measurable way. We'v...