The many twists and turns of the housing market over the last few years have made it difficult to contextualize current housing market conditions, especially as recency bias anchors us to the housing market of 2020 and 2021, which was anything but normal. Mortgage rates hit historic lows during these years yet have since increased to the highest ... Read More ›

What defines a housing recession? While some rules of thumb exist, there has never been general agreement on a definition. If you look at today’s housing market, existing-home sales have struggled to gain any momentum during what is usually the housing market’s busiest season. New home sales, on the other hand, have exceeded all expectations. So, ... Read More ›

The popular 30-year, fixed mortgage rate is loosely benchmarked to the 10-year Treasury bond. Since the end of the Great Recession, the 30-year, fixed mortgage rate has on average remained 1.7 percentage points (170 basis points) higher than the 10-year Treasury bond yield. Yet, this spread is not always consistent. It usually widens during ... Read More ›

As we celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, it’s important to reflect on the progress that women, and single women in particular, have made in achieving one of the main tenets of the American Dream – homeownership. Since 2019, the number of single, female-headed households (including widowed, separated, or divorced) has ... Read More ›

In 2022, National Homeownership Month arrived in June as the housing market adjusts to higher mortgage rates amid still strong nominal house price appreciation, which have resulted in a significant decline in house-buying power. The housing boom of 2020 and 2021 was the exception, not the rule. Record-low mortgage rates, the ability to work from ... Read More ›

As we celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, growing numbers of women, specifically single women, have become homeowners, achieving one of the main tenets of the American Dream. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the overall homeownership rate reached a low point of 63 percent in 2016, but has since rebounded to 65.5 ... Read More ›