The Daily Buzz

WASHINGTON  — Pending home sales sagged for the third straight month in August, according to the National Association of Realtors. Three out of four major regions experienced month-over-month decreases in transactions, however, the West saw a modest gain. Year-over-year, all four regions posted double-digit declines. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator of

The monthly price change dipped in July, down by 0.3%, the first such decline since late 2018 The surge in mortgage rates has brought the housing market to an impasse. Many buyers moved to the sidelines as the cost of homeownership became prohibitively high, while sellers were unwilling to give up locked-in record-low interest rates

  Steve Pfost | Newsday | Getty Images Amid higher interest rates and a softening housing market, home buyers are continuing to back out of purchase contracts at an elevated rate. About 64,000 home-purchase agreements were canceled in August, according to a new report from Redfin. That’s equal to 15.2% of home contracts initiated during

Favorable millennial demographics. Tight housing inventory. Low unemployment. That’s why housing bulls said the Pandemic Housing Boom had more room to run. Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, of course, disagreed. Back in May, Zandi came to Fortune with a bold proclamation: The Pandemic Housing Boom had peaked and we were entering into a “housing

Xinhua/Wang Ying via Getty ImagesThe housing market is in a slump. That’s a good thing, according to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. After years of “red-hot” prices, a correction can help boost home affordability, he added. The Fed is poised to keep raising rates into 2023, meaning the market decline is likely in its early stages.

  Source: Getty Images Sales of previously owned homes fell 0.4% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.80 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. That is the slowest sales pace since May 2020, when activity stalled very briefly due to the start of the Covid pandemic. Outside

istock.com/Luckie8 WASHINGTON — High mortgage rates and building production bottlenecks continue to act as a drag on the single-family housing market even as overall housing starts posted a double-digit gain in August due to a surge in multifamily production. Overall housing starts increased 12.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.58 million units in August off of a downwardly revised July

istock.com/XiXinXing WASHINGTON — In another sign that the slowdown in the housing market continues, builder confidence fell for the ninth straight month in September as the combination of elevated interest rates, persistent building material supply chain disruptions and high home prices continue to take a toll on affordability. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes

istock.com/SDI Productions SEATTLE — Home values slipped for the second consecutive month as mortgage costs continue to sideline buyers, according to Zillow’s latest market report. Affordability is driving market momentum: Low-cost markets remain competitive while prices drop the fastest in both the most expensive markets and those that witnessed the strongest appreciation during the pandemic.

Nearly a third of all U.S. homes are being bought with all cash — and even though that trend has dipped slightly from earlier this year, it’s still up from before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the housing market into a frenzy. That’s according to a Redfin report published Friday, which found 31.4% of U.S. home

istock.com/anilakkus MCLEAN, Va. — Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey, showing that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.02%. “Mortgage rates continued to rise alongside hotter-than-expected inflation numbers this week, exceeding six percent for the first time since late 2008,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Although the