Real Estate

The Good Brigade | Digitalvision | Getty Images Despite being a hallmark of the American Dream, buying a home is less affordable for many these days. Higher mortgage rates and a shortage of houses on the market relative to demand have kept prices elevated and created a financial crunch for many would-be buyers. The median

A recent CreditNews Research study ranked the slowest-selling metro areas in the U.S. The Good Brigade | Digitalvision | Getty Images Even as mortgage interest rates were rising, home prices reached the highest level ever on the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. On a three-month running average ended in June, prices nationally

A sign is posted in front of a home for sale on August 07, 2024 in San Rafael, California.  Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Closed sales of previously owned homes rose 1.3% in July compared with June to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 3.95 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. That

d3sign | Moment | Getty Images Inflation continued to retreat in July, aided by easing price pressures for consumer staples like food and energy and physical goods like new and used cars. The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 2.9% in July from a year ago, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Wednesday.

New houses are seen for sale at Woodland Village, built by Lifestyle Homes housing developer, in Cold Springs, Nevada. Andri Tambunan | AFP | Getty Images It appears to have taken a few weeks for current homeowners to realize mortgage rates had dropped dramatically. And when they did, they acted. Applications to refinance a home

Iuliia Isaieva | Moment | Getty Images Homeowners are sitting on$17 trillion in equity as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, according to CoreLogic. The average homeowner gained $28,000 in equity compared to a year earlier. For many people, there’s no need to touch that money. Home equity is “not like bread,”

Record inflation may have people questioning whether homeownership is still a good investment. Home prices have been rising faster than incomes, which can be a problem for homeowners because as the value of a home rises, so does the cost to maintain it. More than 1 in 4 homeowners with mortgages are considered “cost-burdened,” meaning

A for sale sign in front of a home in Arlington, Virginia, on August 22, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage dropped 22 basis points to 6.4% Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily. That is the lowest rate since April 2023. The 15-year fixed

Sdi Productions | E+ | Getty Images Home affordability has slightly improved for buyers this summer, according to a recent report.  The median new mortgage payment was $2,167 in June, a 2.4% decline from $2,219 in May, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The index measures how new monthly mortgage payments change

A development towers over the Lyric Theater in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. Greg Iacurci MIAMI — Nicole Crooks stood in the plaza of the historic Lyric Theater, a royal blue hat shielding her from the midday sun that baked Miami. In its heyday, the theater, in the city’s Overtown neighborhood, was an important cultural hub for

An aerial view shows a subdivision that has replaced the once rural landscape on July 19, 2023 in Hawthorn Woods, Illinois. Scott Olson | Getty Images Mortgage interest rates eased very slightly last week, but not enough to get today’s potential homebuyers off the fence. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with

Courtney Keating | Getty Images Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest level since March last week, sparking swift demand in refinancing. Homebuyers, however, seemed unimpressed. Applications to refinance a home loan jumped 15% last week, compared with the previous week, to the highest level since August 2022, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted

Recent signs that inflation is easing has paved the way for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates as soon as this fall. The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, dipped in June for the first time in more than four years, the Labor Department reported last week. “With abundant signs of a cooling economy, the

Housing inflation has remained stubbornly high even as inflation in the broad U.S. economy has cooled significantly from peak levels during the pandemic era. Its painfully slow decline is the main impediment keeping the consumer price index from falling back to policymakers’ target, economists said. “We see it as the last remaining leg” before CPI

Prospective home buyers leave a property for sale during an Open House in a neighborhood in Clarksburg, Maryland on September 3, 2023. Roberto Schmidt | AFP | Getty Images It’s no secret that the housing market looks far different than it did a few years ago. While surging mortgage rates and housing prices have taken

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Inflation fell further in June as lower gasoline prices combined with other easing price pressures to bring relief for consumers’ wallets. The consumer price index, a key inflation gauge, rose 3% in June from a year ago, down from 3.3% in May, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. The

The Third Plenum, set for July 15-18, is one of the most important political meetings of the Chinese Communist Party. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images BEIJING — China’s real estate problems may be massive, but analysts expect the upcoming Third Plenum to focus on other areas — such as high local government debt levels and a

Thianchai Sitthikongsak | Moment | Getty Images The recent run-up in home prices, a staggering increase of more than 40% from pre-pandemic levels, should have current homeowners rushing to refinance. But for most, pulling that cash out simply costs too much now that interest rates are more than twice what they were just two years

A townhouse for sale in the Upper East Side neighborhood of NYC.  Adam Jeffery | CNBC Some of the heat is coming out of home prices, even though they’re still higher than they were a year ago. Several new reports show the price gains are shrinking and home sellers are starting to give in after

Sales of previously owned homes are sitting at a 30-year low and didn’t move much in May as prices hit a new record and mortgage rates remain high. So-called existing home sales in May were essentially flat, down 0.7% from April to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.11 million units, according to the National