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• Higher mortgage rates keep the market subdued even as more sellers list their homes Oct. 22nd 2024
  Mortgage rates continue to rise, serving as a bucket of cold water for lenders and consumers that were warming to lower borrowing costs just a few months ago.

• Housing affordability is a political unifier among swing-state voters Oct. 22nd 2024
  Despite the climate of political polarization, most voters in swing states agree on the need for more affordable housing.

• FinLocker, FirstHome IQ join forces to rescue Gen Z from housing disaster Oct. 22nd 2024
  The two organizations said Tuesday that they're focused on empowering Generation Z with the knowledge, tools and confidence needed to "break through financial barriers and make homeownership an attainable goal."

• Down payment assistance programs continue to grow, with an average benefit of $17K Oct. 21st 2024
  Down Payment Resource — a national database for connecting prospective homebuyers to financial assistance programs — recently released its newest Homeownership Program Index (HPI) report based on data collected in third-quarter 2024.

• Which metros are seeing a surge of home sellers? Oct. 21st 2024
  Unsold inventory climbed again this week, despite Hurricanes Helene and Milton and higher mortgage rates

• Florida has built 77,000 new homes in high-risk flood areas Oct. 21st 2024
  Since 2019, the state of Florida has built more than 77,000 new properties in areas with a high risk of flooding. This is the most among all states, according to an analysis by climate-modeling firm First Street Foundation on behalf of the The Wall Street Journal. The construction activity is likely to place the housing [....]

• Survey shows veterans are more likely than civilians to buy homes in the next year Oct. 21st 2024
  In a housing market shaped by uncertainty, military veterans and service members are emerging as some of the most confident and prepared homebuyers, outpacing their civilian counterparts. That’s according to a recent index released by Veterans United Home Loans to measure the financial health and optimism of veterans, active-duty service members and civilians in terms [....]

• Why housing demand is now showing year-over-year growth Oct. 19th 2024
  We have had three weeks of positive year-over-year growth in both purchase application data and weekly pending contract data, with last week showing a noticeable jump from last year. Now the dose of reality: last year at this time mortgage rates were heading toward 8%, and even though 2023 showed record low sales levels, it [....]

• The Fed’s monetary policy is stifling new construction Oct. 18th 2024
  Since mortgage rates have headed higher again, I was anticipating that today’s housing starts report would be the last decent print before the effects of higher mortgage rates hit the builders, but even this report was disappointing. We had a good few months of positive builder confidence data for the new home sector and positive [....]

• Home construction data offers glimmers of optimism — but with a caveat Oct. 18th 2024
  The number of housing units that came online in September showed a big year-over-year jump, but data on earlier stages of construction suggest not much is coming through the pipeline. That’s according to monthly data on new residential construction from the U.S. Census Bureau, which shows year-over-year declines in building permits (-5.7%) and housing starts [....]