Contracts, Invoices & Legal

It is quite likely March's drop in the Purchase Application Payment Index will be transitory as mortgage rates have increased since the start of April. View the full article

Home Depot's bleak forecast provides another warning about the strength of US consumers in the absence of official economic data during the US government shutdown. View the full article

Home Depot Inc. is offering cautious preliminary guidance for next year, a sign that the home-improvement retailer doesn't anticipate the housing market to rebound in the short term. View the full article

The average homebuyer who purchased a home below the asking price last year received a 7.9% discount, the largest since 2012, Redfin found. View the full article

Recent housing trends more favorable to buyers will ease some of the pressure for higher down payments in order to secure a winning bid, Redfin finds. View the full article

The all-stock acquisition of Mountain Commerce Bancorp in Knoxville marks the Arkansas-based company's first M&A foray since 2022. View the full article

Borrower equity fell $78.8 billion, or 0.5%, year over year in Q4, according to Cotality's Home Equity Report. That's an average decrease of $8,500. View the full article

The consortium of businesses intends to work with state regulators to protect consumers as interest from secondary market investors also grows. View the full article

Less than 45% of mortgage residential properties in the United States were equity-rich last quarter, a 1.5-percentage-point drop from the third quarter. View the full article

The lowest-priced properties purchased by investors typically left them in the red when sold, according to the latest home flipping report from Attom. View the full article

Rising labor and material costs could weigh on final expenses, despite a slower summer for hurricane and tornado claims, according to Verisk. View the full article

The average annual premium is projected to increase 4% to about $3,057 this year, after jumping 12% in 2025, according to Insurify, an online insurance comparison site. View the full article

Insurance claims dropped in 2025, but covered loss amounts didn't follow, largely due to the severity of the Southern California wildfires, Rate reported. View the full article

Of the 15 states most affected by natural disasters, California and Florida had the highest non-renewal rates in 2024, a Weiss Ratings study found. View the full article

Two industry organizations are giving Congress and FHFA reasons to make Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's pricing more advantageous rather than less attractive. View the full article

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

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. View the full article

The number of major housing markets with annual home price declines is the largest since late 2023, when average mortgage rates were above 7.5%. View the full article

Home prices edged up nationwide, but gains were modest and uneven. Major indexes agree on direction, differ on size, as 2025 posted weak growth. View the full article

While FHFA reported a year-over-year increase in national home values in November, the Case-Shiller HPI saw flat annual growth as well as monthly decreases. View the full article

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. View the full article

The average price of a single-family home increased 1.7% from last year to $426,800 in the third quarter. View the full article

Contract closings decreased 8.4%, the biggest drop since February 2022, to a 3.91 million annualized pace in January, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday. View the full article

The 14.3% rate for deals withdrawn in any April is the highest level other than in Covid-impacted 2020, as homebuyers reexamine the market, Redfin said. View the full article

More than 42,000, or 13.7%, of home-sale agreements in the United States fell through in February, according to a new Redfin report. View the full article