The financial news that actually matters
When a Denver-area homeowner who goes by Sarah on a local housing forum bought her three-bedroom ranch in early 2021, she locked in a 2.87% fixed rate that keeps her monthly payment at $1,480. She and her husband have spent the past year talking about moving closer to her aging parents in Phoenix. Every time…
The 10-year Treasury yield surged past 4.60% on Tuesday, May 13, 2026, its highest close in roughly a year, after a Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics came in far hotter than Wall Street expected. By the end of the week, the damage had reached the housing market: the average 30-year…
When Maria Delgado-Loss opened her renewal notice in April 2026, the number stopped her mid-step in the kitchen. Her homeowners premium in suburban Houston had jumped 38% in a single year, pushing the annual bill past $4,200. She and her husband sat at the table that night crossing items off a list: the family beach…
To illustrate the lock-in dilemma, consider a hypothetical but representative scenario: a homeowner in suburban Denver who bought a three-bedroom house in 2021 and locked in a 2.875% mortgage rate. Since then, the home’s estimated value has climbed by more than $120,000. On paper, she is wealthier than she has ever been. In practice, she…
Grand Rapids, Michigan, added roughly 1,000 residents between 2022 and 2023, according to Census Bureau estimates. That alone would barely make a footnote. But the city’s housing market tells a louder story: homes there sold faster, drew more online views, and sparked more bidding wars than properties in Austin, Phoenix, or Tampa over the same…
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 6.33% this week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the highest level in roughly a month. That jump landed during Kevin Warsh’s first full week as Federal Reserve Chair, and his opening act in the role was blunt: in prepared testimony before the Senate Banking Committee,…
When your homeowners insurance renewal arrives and the number has jumped by $800, something else in the family budget has to give. For millions of Americans, that something has been a vacation, a roof repair, or the savings account they were trying not to touch. A Pew Research Center survey conducted March 16 to 22,…
Home prices grew just 0.5% nationally – the weakest growth since 2011 – while 28 of the 53 largest metros are now seeing price declines The pandemic housing boom didn’t end with a crash. It ended with a whimper. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index for the first quarter of 2025,…
The roof over Pew Research Center’s latest housing survey is, fittingly, one many Americans can barely afford to insure. In a nationally representative poll conducted in March 2026, 71% of U.S. homeowners said their home insurance costs had risen, and 57% reported making at least one financial sacrifice to keep their policies in force. The…
The national housing market just posted its weakest price growth in nearly 15 years. Median home prices rose only 0.5% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, landing at $404,300, according to the National Association of Realtors’ quarterly metro report released in early May. According to NAR’s historical quarterly series, that is the…