Home affordability improved again Wednesday after the government reported worse-than-expected results for April’s Retail Sales report. Mortgage rates edged lower for the third consecutive day. The impetus for the rate rally this week may be a long-awaited stock market correction. After touching multi-year lows in mid-March, the Dow Jones added 30 percent going into last [...]

For the second month in a row, the country’s foreclosure activity was dominated by a small number of states. As shown by the latest stats from RealtyTrac.com, more than half of the country’s foreclosure actions from April were concentrated in just 3 states: California Florida Nevada Those 3 states are home to but 19 percent [...]

After a series of increases starting April 30, mortgage rates finally took a dip Monday. It was a welcome surprise for home buyers that went under contract over the weekend. Same for homeowners looking to pull the refinance trigger. Versus mortgage rates on Friday afternoon, many lenders were already showing lower rates Monday morning before [...]

Mortgage markets hit their worst levels since March last week, sending mortgage rates higher for the second week in a row. Today’s conforming mortgage rates are much higher than from the registered low point of April 30, 2009. There are a few reasons why mortgage rates were up last week. Stress test results weren’t as [...]

The economy shed 539,000 jobs in April, raising the 6-month total to nearly 4 million jobs lost. And while the April data may look bad, it’s actually 10% better than what was expected. As a result, it’s turning into a bad day to be shopping for mortgage rates. After bottoming out early last week, conforming, [...]

The retail price of gasoline is rising nationwide, now up 30 percent since the New Year. It’s a similar run-up to what we’ve seen for retail gas prices in each of the last 5 Spring Seasons. For people trying to time the mortgage market’s bottom, clues about the future of mortgage rates may be at [...]

Both mortgage guidelines and the economy have tightened since 2006, bringing more attention to “joint homeowners” — non-spousal partners that buy and share a home as roommates. The practice is not new, but, anecdotally, co-purchasing is becoming more common. In the video above — filmed two years ago but still on-target today — real estate [...]

For the second consecutive month, the number of homes under contract to sell increased — further evidence that housing markets may have already bottomed. As reported by an industry trade association, the Pending Home Sales Index rose by 3-plus percent last month. A “pending” home is one that’s under contract but has yet to close. [...]

Mortgage markets faced a broad sell-off last week, sparked by the Federal Reserve and consumer sentiment. This caused mortgage rates to spike from Wednesday to Friday and it caused the “lowest rates of all-time” to seem like an opportunity lost. It’s the first time in 4 weeks that mortgage rates rose overall. Last week was [...]

The Case-Shiller Index is a popular reporting tool for the nation’s home prices. Each month, researchers measure home values in 20 large cities, compile their findings, and then publish them to the public. The Case-Shiller Index is not a perfect measurement by any means. It gives more weight to expensive homes than inexpensive ones, for [...]