The U.S. has too much supply of single-family homes and not enough demand. But why can’t housing starts grow when the White House says we are 10 million homes short? I go back to the 1984 movie “Ghostbusters” and this quote from from Dan Aykroyd’s character: “Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money […]
Why housing construction can’t grow at current demand levels Read More »
Homeowners associations (HOAs) filed 284,933 liens against U.S. homeowners in 2025 — an 8.6% increase from the 262,446 filings in 2024 and the equivalent of roughly one lien recorded every 90 seconds — according to property records compiled by Benutech. An HOA lien is a legal claim placed on a property when an owner falls
HOA liens climb 8.6% nationwide in 2025, with Sun Belt states feeling the most heat Read More »
Mortgage activity remained resilient as purchase demand strengthened, despite interest rates climbing, according to Optimal Blue’s March 2026 Market Advantage report, released on Tuesday. Total rate-lock volume increased 13% from February and 26% from a year earlier. Purchase activity drove the gains, with purchase lock volume rising 38% month over month and 20% year over
Optimal Blue reports March 2026 purchase locks jump 38% Read More »
Mortgage applications increased 0.4% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Feb. 20. On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 2% compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 5% from one week earlier. The unadjusted purchase index
Mortgage applications rise slightly as rates move closer to 6% Read More »
U.S. homeowners who carry mortgages with rates of 6% or more now outnumber those with rates below 3%. This should drive a “meaningful shift in the housing market after years of historically low borrowing costs,” according to a Realtor.com report released Wednesday. The company analyzed residential mortgage data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)
Is the lock-in effect loosening its grip on housing? Realtor.com thinks so Read More »
As the housing market moves into 2026, competition remains intense in many parts of the country — especially in smaller metros where inventory is critically low. New findings from HW Data based on supply, pricing and buyer activity show that demand for single-family homes continues to far outpace available homes in several markets, even as
Midwest housing markets coming in hot for 2026 Read More »
The cost of home insurance in the United States rose by ~89% between 2014 and 2025, as rapidly climbing home prices, more frequent extreme weather events and inflation impacted insurers and homeowners. 1 ICE analysts share key insights from their recent 10-year study into the forces propelling rising insurance costs across the nation. Over the
Why U.S. home insurance costs have leapt in the past decade Read More »
Mortgage rate movement remains stuck in neutral as 2025 comes to an end, but the U.S. housing market has shown signs of life during a traditionally slow period. On Monday, Mortgage News Daily reported an average 30-year fixed rate of 6.19%, down 5 basis points from a week earlier. And on Tuesday, HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates
Will stable mortgage rates and home prices set the table for a strong 2026? Read More »
November’s declining mortgage rates enticed more homebuyers to come off the sidelines, resulting in an uptick for the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI). According to NAR data released Monday, pending home sales were up 3.3% month over month in November, as the PHSI rose to a reading of 79.2. On
Pending home sales rise in November as lower rates spur buyers Read More »
Auction.com released its 2025 Disposition Strategy Report on Wednesday, showing that distressed property sales at auction have increasingly outperformed traditional retail real estate sales over the past two years. The report analyzed more than 390,000 distressed property dispositions from January 2018 through September 2025, using Auction.com data and public records. Estimated net proceeds for auction
Distressed property auctions outperform traditional REO sales Read More »