Weak February jobs report moves the needle on mortgage rates

Mortgage rates eased Friday as investors took stock of new data showing employers added 151,000 workers to their payrolls in February and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1 percent. Continue reading

Fed pauses rate cuts, continues mortgage ‘quantitative tightening’

Trump wants lower rates. Fed Chair Jerome Powell says he’s not spoken to the President, and that “we don’t need to be in a hurry to adjust the policy stance.” Continue reading

Elevated mortgage rates continue to chill homebuyer demand

Mortgage rates hovering near “key psychological level” of 7 percent, a likely factor in the slow pace of applications for both refinance and purchase mortgages: MBA chief economist. Continue reading

5 predictions for 2025 from NAR’s economic summit

The National Association of Realtors hosted its latest Real Estate Forecast Summit on Thursday, where five of the industry’s top economists shared their predictions for mortgage rates, consumer activity, government spending and macroeconomic trends. Continue reading

Homebuyer mortgage demand down for 5th consecutive week

With mortgage rates hovering above 7 percent, requests for purchase loans were down by a seasonally adjusted 5 percent week over week and 2 percent lower than a year ago. Continue reading

Economic Outlook: Recession may be what drives rates down in 2024

Does the rapid slowdown in the economy mean a recession is now inevitable in the new year, or is a “soft landing” still possible? Economists are divided on the nation’s economic outlook for 2024. Continue reading

Economists agree rates have peaked. But will they come down?

Two closely watched forecasts agree that mortgage rates have probably peaked, but diverge sharply on how quickly they’ll come down over the next two years. Continue reading

Hiring is on the rise, but also worse than once thought. What gives?

Real estate didn’t shed an unusual number of workers in August. But there are fewer jobs than it once seemed. Inman explains the paradox. Continue reading

Fed Chair Jerome Powell signals latest rate hike could be the last

Mortgage rates expected to ease even as Fed vows to continue “quantitative tightening” that’s trimming mortgage holdings by $35 billion a month. Continue reading

Mass rounds of real estate layoffs still the exception, not the norm

Despite big rounds of layoffs by companies like Compass and Anywhere, payrolls throughout the real estate industry held firm in January, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Continue reading