The housing market is slowing: Pending home sales fell 3.9% in April, marking the sixth consecutive month for declines and the slowest pace in nearly 10 years. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index—a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings—was down 9.1% in April compared to a year earlier.Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, attributes the slowdown to the recent sharp rise in mortgage rates, which are adding considerab
Last year, home buyers spent nearly $3 trillion on real estate—the highest ever. That exceeds previous highs by more than $600 million that were set in 2020 and 2005, CoreLogic reports.Home prices are the main culprit behind that surge. By the end of 2021, home prices were 50% above their highest peak before the market downfall in 2006, CoreLogic reports.Home sales also contributed to the record-breaking year; 2021 marked the largest number of
What’s trending and where? Confused.com, a home insurance resource, took its annual look at the latest trends for homes across the U.S.In New Mexico, residents are loving Japanese home-inspired styles (like white walls and “zen” finishes) while Maine residents are showing more favor for Tuscan styles (with terracotta, iron finishes, stone, and tiles). The overall favorite among the states, however, is modern, defined by monochromatic c
Rising prices in the new-home market prompted buyers to take a step back in April. The sale of newly built, single-family homes fell 16.6% in April, dropping to their weakest pace in two years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Rising mortgage rates are worsening affordability conditions, builders say.New-home sales are down nearly 27% compared to a year earlier, the report shows.“The v
The typical home buyer could save $260 per month with an adjustable-rate mortgage over a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, or more than $15,000 in five years, a new study from Redfin shows. That marks the largest savings since at least 2015.A 5/1 ARM means the interest rate is fixed for the first five years and then adjusts once a year for the remainder of the loan term, usually 30 years. ARMs that first reset in seven years or 10 years also are commo
With rising home prices and inflation, an area’s cost of living may be a growing factor when finding a place to live. U.S. News & World Report surveyed about 3,500 people to find the factors most important to determine a place to live and factored the results into its annual Best Places to Live rankings. To identify the most affordable places on its list, U.S. News calculate the median annual household income that goes toward
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell slightly this week, a temporary retreat after weeks of steady increases. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.25%, Freddie Mac reports. Rates dropped following the 10-year Treasury yield trend this week. Last week’s average was 5.30%.“Economic uncertainty is causing mortgage rate volatility,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “As a result, purchase demand is waning, and homeb
For the third consecutive month, existing-home sales fell, but buyers are still eager. Higher mortgage rates and prices and low inventory continue to chip away at affordability. Some regions of the U.S., however, continue to see gains.Nationwide, existing-home sales—completed transactions of single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops—decreased 2.4% in April compared to March, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ late
As home buyers have stretched their budgets to buy, they have discovered more unexpected costs of homeownership. Forty-four percent of recent buyers surveyed said they already spent over their personal budget for the home, according to a new ConsumerAffairs survey of about 1,000 adults.Home buyers said they spent an average of $10,334 more than they intended for their home, and younger adults—millennials—were the most likely to overspend. The
The rental market boom continues, and renters are paying a lot more. The U.S. median rental price reached a new high in April—$1,827, realtor.com® reports. Rents have maintained their record-breaking streak that began in January 2021.“April data illustrates the perfect storm of supply and demand dynamics behind the continued rent surge, from a low number of available rentals to higher for-sale housing costs forcing many would-be buyers to re
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