Consumer

While energy prices pushed overall inflation up to 4.2% in May, core inflation was lower than expected, possibly staving off a near-term rate hike by the Fed.

Buyers have the biggest advantage in Sun Belt cities that saw a surge in home construction during the first half of the decade.

The U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May, which could boost consumer confidence. But it ups the odds of a June rate hike and will likely keep mortgage rates elevated.

At a time when home sales should hit their peak, both buyers and sellers are backing off, “possibly foreshadowing slower sales in the second half of the year.”

Falling prices, an uptick in pending sales and fewer price cuts could mean sunny months are ahead for the market — if inflation, mortgage rates stabilize.

Bill Pulte will still lead the housing agency while serving as acting director of national intelligence. Plus, Fed faces “credibility” threat; CFPB sued; more.

The quirky trend can be explained in part by the flexibility of home builders as they navigate higher material costs and persistent economic uncertainty.

With mortgage rates still elevated, pending and new home sales — along with mortgage applications — have all trended down as affordability weakens.

Real estate investors are pulling back as rising homeownership costs, economic uncertainty and slowing price growth in some areas threaten to reduce profits.

Shifts in household incomes, home prices and mortgage rates will be key to housing affordability improvements in the next decade, according to Oxford Economics.

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Pending sales and purchase applications fell this week as average mortgage rates topped 6.5%, narrowing “the pool of buyers who can make the numbers work.”

A new Listing-Income Alignment Score finds “a shortage of options” for buyers looking to purchase a home they can afford, according to NAR and Realtor.com.

With no end in sight for the war in Iran, investors are growing increasingly nervous about how sky-high energy prices are impacting the U.S. economy.

A new Zillow analysis found that homesellers collectively lost nearly $1.5B on dual agency transactions in three years — and over $1.3B on off-MLS listings.

Rising pending sales and loan activity suggests some buyers have “shrugged off the current economic and mortgage rate uncertainties and returned to the market.”

Consumer confidence and purchasing power are weakening, with inflation jumping 3.8% in April amid rising energy prices.

Even though most buyers expect AI use, they want transparency, clarity and human verification of AI-powered real estate processes, a recent survey found.

April employment numbers were better than expected, but for buyers and sellers, “positive momentum matters more than any single month of data,” economists say.

While economic uncertainty persists amid the ongoing war in the Middle East, “the math has shifted in favor of buyers,” according to Zillow’s chief economist.