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Stories Tagged as

Mortgage rates

Furniture retailers like Wayfair suffer as fewer people buy homes

by Daniel Ackerman
Aug 2, 2024
This week, Wayfair reported a $42 million loss and its CEO compared the drop in demand to the one seen in the last financial crisis.
Wayfair, among other furniture retailers, has experienced revenue declines in recent months.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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More homeowners are "equity rich," but what can they do with that wealth?

by Stephanie Hughes
Aug 1, 2024
High interest rates often make home equity loans or cash-out refinance options unappealing.
"You can sell some of your mutual funds," says Jenny Schuetz of Brookings Metro. "You can't sell off a part of your house."
David McNew/Getty Images
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As home prices rise, more deals fall through

by Sabri Ben-Achour
Jul 30, 2024
With prices and mortgage rates high, people are "buying at the edge of what they can qualify for," a real estate economist says.
Rich home values and high mortgage rates heap pressure on prospective buyers in the current market.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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Home sales figures released against a backdrop of rising inventory

by Samantha Fields
Jul 24, 2024
Some sellers who have delayed putting their homes on the market are now doing so, but inventory is still lower than normal.
Even though housing inventory is higher than it was last year, it's still relatively low in most of the market.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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A drop in bond yields could signal a long-awaited break for would-be homebuyers

by Mitchell Hartman
Jun 18, 2024
Falling interest rates on Treasuries could lead to lower mortgage rates, which are key to a recovery in the housing market.
While moderately lower rates may push some prospective buyers to jump in, rates may have to fall a lot before current homeowners give up their pre-2022 mortgages.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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Home prices have reached new records, yet consumer confidence rose. What gives?

by Caleigh Wells
May 28, 2024
Turns out what we're seeing may not be optimism as much as less pessimism.
Plans to buy a new home in the next six months were "at one of the lowest levels that it’s been, I think, in the history of the Consumer Confidence Index,” says Brian Connolly of the University of Michigan.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
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High interest rates have frozen the real estate market. When will it thaw?

by Mitchell Hartman
May 23, 2024
Mortgage rates have popped back up above 7%, sales have fallen and builder sentiment is down. 5% would get things moving, per one economist.
Mortgage rates above 7% weigh on the housing market. Buyers can’t afford the high monthly payments, and sellers don’t want to move and give up their cheap loans.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
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Homes in most metropolitan areas are overvalued, a new report says. Here's why.

by Caleigh Wells
May 22, 2024
Normally, higher interest rates mean cheaper homes. Not this time.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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A typical home costs $1 million or more in a record number of U.S. cities

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Apr 10, 2024
Zillow find that million-dollar homes are proliferating — and not just in the usual high-cost metro areas like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Median home values were north of $1 million in 550 cities in February, according to Zillow.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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Mortgage rates have fallen, but are homes more affordable?

by Justin Ho
Mar 25, 2024
When you take mortgage rates, housing prices and incomes into account, homes are 44% less affordable than they were two years ago.
New home sales were 6% higher than the same time last year. But that doesn't mean the new homes are more affordable.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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