Mortgages
Here’s why Home Depot and Lowe’s are booming in a housing market bust
A home improvement contractor works on a house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Suzanne Kreiter | The Boston Globe | Getty Images As the U.S. housing market falls hard from its pandemic-driven highs, home improvement retailers like Home Depot and Lowe’s don’t seem to be feeling the same pain. In fact, they’re faring better than expected. While […]
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Homebuilder sentiment drops to a decade low, as builders add more incentives
Contractors work on concrete slabs in the Cielo at Sand Creek by Century Communities housing development in Antioch, California, on Thursday, March 31, 2022. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Homebuilder sentiment in the single-family housing market fell to the lowest level in a decade in November, as builders continue to struggle with […]
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Mortgage rates fall sharply to under 7% after inflation eases
A ‘For Sale’ sign is posted in front of a single family home on October 27, 2022 in Hollywood, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images Mortgage rates fell sharply Thursday after a government report showed that inflation had cooled in October, prompting a decline in bond yields. The average rate on the 30-year fixed plunged […]
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Weekly mortgage demand flattens, as interest rates climb higher to 7.14%
A man enters a Bank of America branch in New York. Scott Mlyn | CNBC Mortgage rates rose again last week, throwing even more cold water on demand from both current homeowners and potential homebuyers. Weekly application volume fell 0.1% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. […]
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Consumer confidence in the housing market hits a new low, according to Fannie Mae
An ‘Open House’ sign is displayed as potential home buyers arrive at a property for sale in Columbus, Ohio. Ty Wright | Bloomberg | Getty Images Rising mortgage rates, high home prices and uncertainty in the overall economy have Americans feeling more pessimistic about the state of the housing market. In October, just 16% of […]
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Here’s how much equity U.S. homeowners have lost since May
A home awaits sale at a reduced asking price in Glendale, California. David McNew | Getty Images The historic run-up in home prices during the first two years of the pandemic gave homeowners record amounts of new home equity. Since May, however, about $1.5 trillion of that has vanished, according to Black Knight, a mortgage […]
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House hunting this weekend? There’s more out there now
A For Sale sign is posted in front of a property in Monterey Park, California on August 16, 2022. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images After more than two years of a historically lean housing market, listings are starting to rise − and swiftly. Active inventory nationally jumped 33.5% in October from the […]
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Wells Fargo mortgage staff brace for layoffs as U.S. loan volumes collapse
Mortgage volumes at Wells Fargo slowed further in recent weeks, leaving some workers idle and sparking concerns that the lender will need to cut more employees as the U.S. housing slump deepens. The bank had about 18,000 loans in its retail origination pipeline in the early weeks of the fourth quarter, according to people with […]
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Homebuilders say they’re on the edge of a steeper downturn as buyers pull back
A worker drills plywood on a single family home under construction in Lehi, Utah, on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Images The once-hot housing market is cooling off at an alarming rate, and some homebuilders say it will only get worse come the new year as new orders dry up. […]
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Pending home sales fell 10% in September, much worse than expected
A Coldwell Banker “Under Contract” sign stands outside a property in Washington, D.C. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images Pending home sales, a measure of signed contracts on existing homes, dropped a much worse-than-expected 10.2% in September from August, according to the National Association of Realtors. Economists had predicted a 4% drop. Sales were […]
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