Following seven straight months of declining defect risk, the Loan Application Defect Index for purchase transactions remained the same in August compared with the month before. Year over year, the Defect Index for purchase transactions decreased 13.2 percent as compared to August 2017. The Defect Index for refinance transactions is the same as ... Read More ›

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is just around the corner and a rate hike is almost certain, according to experts, which will trigger conversations about rising mortgage rates across the housing industry. While changes to the federal funds rate won’t necessarily spur further increases in mortgage rates, mortgage rates are expected ... Read More ›

First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming was interviewed on CNBC earlier this week and discussed the housing market’s potential shift toward a buyer’s market and the challenges facing the market: affordability and interest rates. Read More ›

Yesterday’s Census Bureau report for August is an indication of strength for the housing market. While the number of permits issued, which can signal how much construction is in the pipeline, decreased by 5.5 percent, home building rose in August as housing starts increased 9.4 percent compared with a year ago. The growth in housing starts is ... Read More ›

In August, the housing market continued to underperform its potential. Actual existing-home sales are 6.5 percent below the market’s potential, according to our Potential Home Sales model. That means the market has the potential to support more than 400,000 more home sales at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR). Severe supply shortages ... Read More ›

Last month, we noted in our latest Real House Price Index (RHPI) report that house price appreciation may be slowing. According to our RHPI, 21 cities experienced a monthly decline in their real, consumer house-buying power-adjusted price level. One reason for the price appreciation slowdown is that 21 of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. ... Read More ›