Housing & Real Estate Archives - Page 6 of 18

Housing affordability has improved eight straight months as inventory hit a 3-year high of 1.47 million homes — the first real opening for buyers since 2020

David Keller2 weeks ago2 weeks ago012 mins

Buyers have not had this much room to maneuver since before the pandemic scrambled the housing market. The National Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index has climbed for eight consecutive months through March 2026, the longest sustained improvement since mortgage rates began their sharp ascent in 2022. Active inventory hit 1.47 million homes in April,…

With rates stuck near 6.6%, sellers are now buying down your mortgage — nearly 1 in 4 covered closing costs or bought down the rate last quarter

David Keller2 weeks ago2 weeks ago013 mins

When a three-bedroom ranch in a growing Sun Belt suburb sat on the market for weeks this spring without a single offer, the listing agent suggested something that would have been unthinkable two years earlier: the seller should pay to lower the buyer’s mortgage rate. The seller agreed, funding a temporary rate buydown that shaved…

houses and american homes showing mortgage rates impact suburban homes symbolizing financial strain

It now takes $127,000 a year to afford the median U.S. home — up from $79,000 before the pandemic, pricing out half of households

Warren Cohen2 weeks ago2 weeks ago014 mins

A household earning $80,000 a year, right at the national median, can comfortably afford a monthly mortgage payment of roughly $1,870 under standard lending rules that cap housing costs at 28 percent of gross income. The problem: the actual payment on a median-priced U.S. home now runs closer to $2,960 a month, assuming a 20…

Financial paperwork planning or couple with questions finance documents or budget in home Receipt laptop or worried people speaking of bills doubt or debt with recession taxes or inflation

Homeowners are sitting on a record $35 trillion in equity they can’t affordably tap — a HELOC now costs 8.5% while first mortgages stay pinned near 6.6%

David Keller2 weeks ago2 weeks ago015 mins

American homeowners are collectively sitting on roughly $35 trillion in home equity, the largest stockpile ever recorded in Federal Reserve data. But for millions of those households, that wealth might as well be sealed behind a glass wall: visible, substantial, and painfully expensive to touch. The problem is the gap between what homeowners already pay…

Family Wades Through Floodwaters After Hurricane

Home insurance is splitting in two — Florida’s state insurer just cut rates 8.7% for the first time in eight years while California jumps 16%

Warren Cohen2 weeks ago2 weeks ago013 mins

When Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation voted to lower personal-lines rates by an average of 8.7% this spring, it marked the state-backed insurer’s first rate cut in eight years, according to reporting from the Associated Press and contemporaneous news coverage, though Citizens has not yet published a formal press release or board resolution confirming the…

First-time buyers have fallen to just 24% of the market, a near-record low — as 6.58% rates and a record $417,800 price lock them out

Warren Cohen2 weeks ago2 weeks ago09 mins

A generation ago, roughly one in three home sales went to someone buying for the first time. That ratio has collapsed. First-time buyers now represent just 24% of all home purchases, the lowest share the National Association of Realtors has ever recorded in its annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, as reported by the…

Joyful Newlyweds in Front of Their Dream Home

Moving from a 3% mortgage to today’s 6.58% rate now adds $900 a month — which is why 43% of homeowners sit on record equity they can’t touch

Warren Cohen2 weeks ago2 weeks ago013 mins

Consider a homeowner who closed on a house in early 2021 with a 30-year fixed rate of 3%. The monthly principal-and-interest payment on a $405,000 loan came to about $1,707. If that same person sold today and financed an identical amount at 6.58%, the new payment would land near $2,583. That is roughly $876 more…

a sale sign is hanging on a wooden post in front of a house

April marked the 34th straight month of rising home prices — even as sales stalled near a 9-month low and inventory hit a 3-year high

David Keller2 weeks ago2 weeks ago010 mins

Homes across the country kept getting more expensive in April 2026, stretching an unbroken streak of year-over-year price gains to 34 months. The national median sales price rose 1.5 percent compared with a year earlier, according to RE/MAX’s April 2026 National Housing Report. That streak now reaches back to mid-2023, having survived a mortgage rate…

Residential house with open patio at the entrance doors under the porch

New mortgages are pricing at 6.65% this morning — the highest daily rate since March as the 30-year Treasury crossed 5% for the fourth straight day

Warren Cohen2 weeks ago2 weeks ago011 mins

The window of relative affordability that opened for homebuyers in early April has slammed shut. New 30-year fixed mortgages are pricing at 6.65% as of this morning, the highest daily rate since mid-March 2026, according to the Mortgage News Daily composite tracker. The trigger: the 30-year Treasury yield has crossed 5% and stayed there for…

More than 1 in 3 homebuilders cut prices in April — the highest share since 2009 — and 60% threw in free upgrades or mortgage rate buydowns

Warren Cohen2 weeks ago2 weeks ago013 mins

In April, more than one in three homebuilders slashed base prices on new homes, the largest share to do so since the housing bust of 2009. Another 60% sweetened deals with free upgrades, closing-cost help, or mortgage-rate buydowns. The numbers, drawn from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, paint a picture…

Category: Housing & Real Estate

Housing affordability has improved eight straight months as inventory hit a 3-year high of 1.47 million homes — the first real opening for buyers since 2020

With rates stuck near 6.6%, sellers are now buying down your mortgage — nearly 1 in 4 covered closing costs or bought down the rate last quarter

It now takes $127,000 a year to afford the median U.S. home — up from $79,000 before the pandemic, pricing out half of households

Homeowners are sitting on a record $35 trillion in equity they can’t affordably tap — a HELOC now costs 8.5% while first mortgages stay pinned near 6.6%

Home insurance is splitting in two — Florida’s state insurer just cut rates 8.7% for the first time in eight years while California jumps 16%

First-time buyers have fallen to just 24% of the market, a near-record low — as 6.58% rates and a record $417,800 price lock them out

Moving from a 3% mortgage to today’s 6.58% rate now adds $900 a month — which is why 43% of homeowners sit on record equity they can’t touch

April marked the 34th straight month of rising home prices — even as sales stalled near a 9-month low and inventory hit a 3-year high

New mortgages are pricing at 6.65% this morning — the highest daily rate since March as the 30-year Treasury crossed 5% for the fourth straight day

More than 1 in 3 homebuilders cut prices in April — the highest share since 2009 — and 60% threw in free upgrades or mortgage rate buydowns

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