Housing

Rising interest rates and expensive building supplies are starting to cool the housing market, but construction of new U.S. homes unexpectedly climbed in August.

Goldman Sachs economists say the US central bank will raise interest rates four more times between now and 2023, keeping rates high until 2024. The two-day FOMC meeting starts Tuesday.

National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard argued the housing market is in recession and will continue to decline right up to the midterm elections.

Builder sentiment in the market for single-family homes tumbled in September to the lowest level in two years, indicating the housing market is officially in a recession.

The housing market is looking up for both buyers and sellers, real estate experts said. Homes are selling for lower prices, but high mortgage rates are still impacting affordability.

Lumber suppliers stopped taking orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. That caused supply to drop and prices to skyrocket. Now, distributors are struggling to meet rising demand.

Housing sector activity will likely slow sharply in coming months, according to Goldman Sachs economists, with price growth eventually falling to zero.

The Federal Reserve likely triggered a recession in the housing market with its interest rate hike campaign as rising borrowing costs price out first-time buyers.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said the average rate on the 30-year loan rose to the highest level in two months amid renewed fears of an aggressive Federal Reserve.

Bank of America announced this week that it is starting a mortgage option for first-time home buyers offering no down payments, closing costs or minimum credit scores.

WalletHub published a report on the best real estate markets of 2022, based on 17 metrics in two categories: “real estate market” and “affordability and economic environment.”

Home prices in June climbed 18.6% compared with the same month one year ago, a sign that steeper borrowing costs may be starting to cool the housing market.

Black Knight said in a new report on Wednesday that home prices dropped 0.77% in July, the first monthly decline in three years and the biggest drop since 2011.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that its pending home sales index dropped 19.9% in July compared with last year, the lowest level since early 2020.

Because Colorado ski resort Steamboat Springs is facing a housing crisis, the town passed a ban on new short-term rentals in most of the town, such as those booked on Airbnb.

Purchases of new homes in the U.S. fell even more than expected in July as record-high home prices and rising borrowing costs priced buyers out of the market.

The sharp decline shows the lagging effect of the increased mortgage rate on the housing market, with prices still higher than the same time last year despite declining.

Sales of previously owned homes plunged in July for the sixth consecutive month as rising borrowing costs and higher housing prices pushed prospective buyers out of the market.

The U.S. housing market is starting to cool off considerably as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates at the fastest pace in decades in order to cool inflation.

Homebuyers are backing out of purchase contracts at the fastest pace in more than two years as they confront rising interest rates and the possibility of an impending recession.