January was a refreshingly strong month for many economic reports, but especially for metrics relating to the housing and mortgage markets.  This wasn't too hard to reconcile with December and January having much lower mortgage rates, on average than October and November.   There's also a point at which housing market... Read more

Applications for both home purchases and refinancing rose for the fourth time during the week ended March 24. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, increased 2.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and 3.0 percent unadjusted compared to the week ended... Read more

Some people might like the idea of perpetual appreciation in the housing market, but others know that the industry was badly in need of a cool-down after values surged at an unprecedented pace post-pandemic.  While the interest rate spike of 2022 wasn't entirely unprecedented, it was the fastest in decades... Read more

New home sales surprised everyone in January, surging by 7.5 percent to 670,000 units, the highest rate since March 2022.  It was, however, only an illusion. That number has now been revised down to 633,000.  The more modest number – which is still significantly higher than analysts had expected –... Read more

A second week of declining interest rates prompted another increase in mortgage activity last week, the third in as many weeks. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, gained 3.0 percent on both a seasonally adjusted and unadjusted basis.  The... Read more

Existing home sales emerged, at least temporarily, out of a prolonged slump last month, and weren’t even shy about it. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said seasonally adjusted annual sales of preowned single-family houses, townhomes, condos, and cooperative apartments hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.58 million units... Read more

It didn’t approach the levels of the “good old days” of 2020 and 2021, but construction activity did show signs of life last month. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that both housing permit activity and residential construction starts rose sharply in February... Read more

Mortgage application volume increased for a second straight week as investors fled to the safety of government-guaranteed securities in the wake of three bank failures, and fears of depositor runs on several large regional banks. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a gauge of loan application... Read more

Mortgage credit availability fell to just short of its 2012 benchmark level in February. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) dropped 3.0 percent from its January level to a reading of 100.1. A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while... Read more

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 7.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week. On an unadjusted basis, the Index was up 9 percent. The Refinance Index rose 9 percent from the previous week... Read more

Black Knight releases a robust collection of mortgage/housing info each month via its Mortgage Monitor report.  There are always more charts than we have time and room to post, but the charts are typically more interesting than whatever we have to say about them.  So this month, let's try "more... Read more

The volume of mortgage application activity for both refinancing and purchasing fell again last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, decreased 5.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended February 24 and was 4 percent lower on... Read more

FHFA and S&P Case Shiller each released their monthly home price indices (HPIs) for December this morning.  These are the two most widely followed HPIs.  FHFA has a broader reach while Case Shiller is focused on the 20 largest metro areas.   Both HPIs continued to do exactly what they were... Read more

Not only did pending home sales increase for the second month in a row in January, but the increase was the largest since the June 2020 rebound from the pandemic plunge. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose 8.1 percent in January to... Read more

New home sales edged a little further out of a lengthy slump in January, topping 600,000 units for the second straight month. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said sales of newly constructed single-family homes were at a seasonally adjusted annual level of 670,000.... Read more