According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, demand for mortgage applications skyrocketed last week. The MBA’s Market Composite Index – which measures both refinance and purchase activity – was up 28.5 percent from the week before, with the refinance index posting a 40 percent jump and the purchase index up 16 percent. Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, says the gains were due to falling mortgage rates. “Mortgage rates dropped lower last week following the … [Read more...]

If you want to buy a house and can’t pay cash, you’re going to need a mortgage. But the availability of mortgage credit isn’t fixed, which means whether you’re approved to borrow depends, in part, on current lending standards and available loan programs. In other words, mortgage credit can be tighter at times and looser at others, making it an important factor in the home buying process. The good news is access to credit improved over the last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s most recent … [Read more...]

ATTOM Data Solutions’ latest U.S. Home Affordability Report shows homes were less affordable than historical averages in nearly every county across the country at the end of 2025. That’s no surprise, of course. Anyone with even a passing interest in buying a house knows the housing market has an affordability problem. But while the market continues to have affordability issues, the news isn’t all bad. In fact, Rob Barber, ATTOM’s CEO, says there was improvement at the end of last year. “Many Americans were priced … [Read more...]

You can learn a lot looking at the housing market as a whole. Analyzing national trends can help give you an idea where things are heading. But while national trends can be useful, they don’t tell the whole story. After all, a housing market’s dynamic is largely determined by the balance of supply and demand and that’s going to vary from one place to the next. For example, markets in the South and West have seen more new home construction and, due to the increased inventory, softer home prices. In the Northeast and … [Read more...]

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, average mortgage rates decreased to start the new year. Rates were down across most loan categories, including 30-year fixed-rate loans with both conforming and jumbo balances, loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, and 15-year fixed-rate loans. Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and chief economist, says rates are now lower than they’ve been in more than a year. “Mortgage rates started the new year with a decline to … the lowest … [Read more...]

Home buyers have a lot to consider but, when it comes to their biggest concerns about buying a house, money always tops the list. In fact, it’s the main factor behind almost all the concerns named by respondents of a recently conducted survey. The survey – which asked participants for their biggest worries about purchasing a home – found most of the top concerns were financial in nature – starting with the 30 percent who named “not being able to find an affordable home” as their top issue. Other concerns included … [Read more...]

Not long ago, home prices were seeing double-digit, year-over-year gains. Home buyers were active and, due to a lower-than-normal number of homes available for sale, bidding wars had prices surging higher. Since then, things have changed. In fact, according to the latest numbers from the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, home prices were only 1.4 percent higher than year-before levels through the end of October. Nicholas Godec, CFA, CAIA, CIPM, head of fixed income tradables & commodities at S&P Dow … [Read more...]

After a contract to buy is signed, a home’s sale is considered pending until it closes weeks later. Because most pending sales successfully close, they’re considered a good forward-looking indicator of future home sales numbers. In other words, next month’s existing-home sales totals should follow this month’s pending sales numbers. That’s why the National Association of Realtors tracks them each month with its Pending Home Sales Report. In November, the data shows pending sales up 3.3 percent from the month before … [Read more...]

Saving to buy a house requires sacrifice. It always has. Prospective home buyers have always had to cut unnecessary spending and stick to a budget until they could come up with enough for a down payment. That hasn’t changed. The amount of time it takes to come up with enough to purchase a median-priced house has, though. In fact, according to a new analysis from the National Association of Realtors’ consumer website, it now takes the typical buyer seven years to save up enough money to buy a house. That’s a … [Read more...]

New data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Purchase Applications Payment Index shows mortgage payments are becoming more affordable. The index, which measures the median mortgage payment applied for by prospective borrowers, found payments fell to $2,034 in November from $2,039 the month before. Edward Seiler, MBA’s associate vice president of housing economics and executive director of the Research Institute for Housing America, says the improvement marked six-straight months of gains. “Affordability … [Read more...]