Mortgages

The average home price is now 40% more expensive than at the beginning of 2020. That’s according to ResiClub, which outlines how the last four years outpaced the entire home appreciation of the 1990s and the 2010s: Housing prices grew by 30.1% in the 1990s; 47.3% in the 2000s; and 44.7% in...

Real estate stocks slid at Wednesday’s market open, weighed down by the latest disappointing data on housing starts and a spike in mortgage rates, darkening the outlook for the sector. By 9:00 a.m. EST, the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE) had dropped by 0.3%. This marked its...

Homebuilder stocks face sharp declines as the SPDR Homebuilders ETF (NYSE:XHB) drops 1.8% in Tuesday’s session, hitting its lowest level since Feb. 26, 2024, amid negative economic data. From the start of the month, this performance gauge has fallen approximately 10%, marking the first...

The recent spike in national mortgage rates stirred concerns among homebuyers and economists alike. With the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) climbing to 6.88% on April 11, questions arise about the trajectory of the housing market. Chart Source: Freddie Mac Additionally, other key indicators...

Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE:RKT) on Tuesday introduced Rocket Logic, its patented AI-driven platform aimed at simplifying and expediting home ownership. The development has been undertaken by Rocket Mortgage, an America-based retail mortgage lender and a part of Rocket Companies. This platform...

Hunterbrook Media, a new hedge fund that doubles as a news organization, released its first short report on UWM Holdings Corp (NYSE:UWMC) on Tuesday. Hunterbrook alleges in the report that UWM unfairly incentivized mortgage brokers to push business to the firm — and Hunterbrook encouraged a class...

Mortgage lock-in is an often overlooked area of the U.S. housing market. It hampers the ability of homeowners to sell their properties, adding to the shortage in supply of available homes, pushing house prices ever higher. Here’s the problem. Most of the 50 million active mortgages in the U.S...

Lennar Corp (NYSE:LEN) is the last of the major homebuilders to report earnings for the October-December period on Wednesday and gives the market an update on the state of the homebuilding industry. Consensus estimates suggest earnings per share of $2.21, up 4.2% from the $2.12 reported in the same...

The U.S. economy’s growth experienced a slight downward adjustment for the fourth quarter of 2023, still showcasing a healthy growth rate but at a marginally slower pace than initially estimated, according to the second estimate released Wednesday. Mortgage rates remain relatively stable,...

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of $726,200 or less witnessed a further increase recently, reaching 7.06% for the week ending Feb. 16, 2024. It marks the highest point observed since early December, as reported by the Mortgage...

The U.S. housing market faces increased pressure as the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by seven basis points to 6.87%, a peak not seen in the past two months. This rise in mortgage rates, as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on Wednesday, is a...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Thursday of the potential failure of non-bank lenders if household finances became stretched and the rate of delinquencies on loans rises. Speaking before a Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, the former Federal Reserve chair warned...

U.S. household debt climbed by $212 billion, reaching a new record high of $17.5 trillion at the end of 2023, according to the New York Federal Reserve. The Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit revealed significant increases across several categories, with credit card balances and...

Shares in homebuilders fell sharply this week following fourth-quarter results from D.R. Horton Inc (NYSE:DHI) which showed the company had to pile on the sales incentives to generate its top-line growth. Thus, even though the biggest house builder in the U.S. generated annual revenue growth of 6.4...

Potential homebuyers found further relief on Thursday after mortgage rates fell in the U.S. for the fifth consecutive week. The average rate for a 30-year loan fell to 7.22%, down from 7.29% last week, said Freddie Mac, the mortgage-backed securities broker. Although conditions for buyers appear to...