Home prices

While Fannie Mae sees improving buying and selling conditions, more consumers still think prices will rise over the coming year.

Following an appearance on Fox Business by NAHB's CEO this week, the U.S. Lumber Coalition labeled the homebuilding trade group a Canadian ally.

The run-up in prices since the pandemic, and mortgage rates hovering near 7%, have squeezed affordability for house hunters, pushing many to the sidelines.

Rapidly rising tuition and housing costs both contributed to lower homeownership rates and a more than twofold surge in student debt in under 15 years.

The national median single-family existing-home price grew 3.4% from a year ago to $402,300, an analysis found.

While the nation's largest housing markets in New York and Chicago enjoyed greater annual home price appreciation, home values fell 1.5% in Tampa.

Clear regional differences appeared in the average tax amounts owed across the U.S., with residents of one state seeing five-figure sums, Attom said.

US homebuilder confidence barely rose this month on a pickup in current sales, though demand expectations stumbled to a more than one-year low and prices of construction materials are climbing on the heels of higher tariffs. 

One of the biggest culprits is the CFPB's qualified mortgage rule and the ever-expanding debt-to-income ratios allowed under it, writes a co-director of the AEI Housing Center.

Pent-up demand and the rapid pace of home appreciation is fueling the ongoing rise in home prices, even as mortgage rates present obstacles for buyers.