While tight supply of homes for sale had been plaguing buyers for much of this year, listings are increasing, but so are prices and interest rates, weakening affordability.
Rising mortgage rates and high home prices have fewer consumers thinking now is a good time to buy or sell a home. While consumers are bullish on the economy, fewer said they are not concerned about losing their job.
Total mortgage application volume fell 4 percent week to week and plunged 16 percent from a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
"We're very sorry that the errors occurred and have assigned a single, dedicated point of contact to ensure that each customer is engaged with and assisted individually," Tom Goyda, a spokesman for the company, said in an email. The company said the expanded review is still under way and took into account customers who were in the foreclosure process between March...
Rising interest rates have cut the number of borrowers who could have benefited from a refinance. Since 2016, 5.9 million borrowers who could have lowered their monthly payment by more than $250, didn't apply.
Renters face more financial uncertainty than homeowners, the Urban Institute finds.
High prices and rising mortgage rates are taking their toll on home sales in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area. Sales fell to the slowest pace in 11 years in September. Prices, however, are still gaining, although not as much as in previous months.
The number of new and existing houses and condominiums sold in September plummeted nearly 18 percent compared with September 2017, according to CoreLogic.
Nationally, prices rose 5.8 percent in August compared with August 2017, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home prices index. That is less than the 6 percent annual gain in July.
Both rising mortgage rates and rising home prices are increasing what homebuyers will have to pay each month. While mortgage rates are largely national, home prices are local, so the increase in monthly payments will vary market to market.
Homebuyer demand is strong, but affordability was weakening even before rates began to rise, as tight supply pushed home prices sharply higher.
A monthly reading of homebuilder sentiment rose one point in October. Builders cite the drop in lumber prices as well as strong demand for housing as the driver of the gain. Builders continue to be faced with higher costs for land and labor.
Following the subprime mortgage crisis, low-income borrowers with low credit scores were locked out of homeownership. Now a major player in the subprime crisis is backing new loans to the same borrowers but with a far different product.
Extremely weak demand for mortgage refinances has been driving the overall drain on mortgage lending. Refinance volume fell another 3 percent last week and was 32 percent lower than a year ago.
Mortgage rates moved to the highest level in 8 years, and confidence in housing is now slipping. This as millennials are smack in the middle of their prime home buying years. Rates are expected to move even higher going into next year.
Mortgage fraud risk jumped more than 12 percent year over year at the end of the second quarter, according to CoreLogic, which measures six fraud indicators: identity, income, occupancy, property, transaction and undisclosed real estate debt.
Sales of Bay Area homes fell 10 percent in August to the slowest pace in 7 years. San Francisco itself saw sales fall 7 percent, as buyers hit an affordability wall. Despite the sales slowdown, the median price of a Bay Area home is way up.
Signed contracts to buy existing homes fell for the second straight month to the lowest level since January of this year. Sales have fallen for four out of the last five months, as prices and mortgage rates increase.
A stronger economy, along with an overheated housing market are pushing demand for apartment rentals. Vacancies are down and rents are up.
Potential home buyers are hitting an affordability wall, and sellers are caving to the new reality.
Data also provided by 
