Deborah Kearns

Above, a screenshot from one of Homes.com’s new ads featuring Dan Levy of “Schitt’s Creek” fame and SNL’s Heidi Gardner.  During one of America’s most enduring traditions, Super Bowl Sunday, Homes.com plans to make history, regardless of who takes home the championship trophy.  Through four commercials reaching some 113 million viewers, the rapidly ascending real…

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintained the target range for the federal funds rate on Wednesday following hotter-than-expected inflation and employment cost data. In its familiar refrain, the central bank left the federal funds target range untouched at 5.25% to 5.5% after its monthly meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Most investors and analysts expected…

It wasn’t long ago when mortgage refinancing was king, generating record-breaking profits and driving lenders with more business than they could handle. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, average 30-year mortgage rates in the 2% to 3% range were a boon for business. Mortgage lenders originated $2.57 trillion in refinance…

In a mixed bag for housing, mortgage applications for new homes jumped in March, while new-construction sales simultaneously fell amid affordability woes, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Mortgage applications for new-home purchases rose 6.2% in March compared to the same period last year, according to data from the MBA’s Builder Application Survey (BAS).…

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was clear in new remarks Tuesday that the central bank has no intention of cutting rates until the U.S. makes sustained progress in bringing down inflation. The Fed chief said that recent economic data has undoubtedly shown the U.S. economy’s resilience and strong performance over the past year, especially in…

Getting inflation under control remains priority No. 1 at the Federal Reserve. New inflation data out Friday shows that U.S. prices moderated in February, led by a cooling in the cost of services (outside of housing and energy), according to a Commerce Department report. The report also revealed that consumer spending rose to its highest…

Homebuyers are continuing to turn to new construction as the antidote for a continued lack of existing homes for sale. Mortgage applications for newly built homes jumped 15.7% in February from a year ago, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Builder Application Survey. While new-home mortgage applications only rose 1% from…

The housing market in 2023 was brutal. Mortgage approvals and home sales hit a 30-year low as mortgage rates soared and housing inventory dwindled. But according to new data from ICE Mortgage Technology, a record number of first-time homebuyers took out conventional loans last year despite the slowdown. In all, just 4.3 million mortgages were…

Ask anyone in the housing industry and they’ll agree that 2023 was one of the most brutal years in the industry since the Great Recession. While some of the same headwinds—high mortgage rates, low housing inventory and lower mortgage demand—that stifled business growth last year have carried into this year, there’s reason for optimism. Executives…

The Fed left rates unchanged Wednesday but it did indicate it will cut rates three times before the end of the year. The central bank said it needs to see inflation move more sustainably toward its target 2% goal before initiating rate cuts. “Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid…

First-time homebuyers have long faced a trifecta of high mortgage rates, low housing inventory and climbing home prices throughout much of the country, making homeownership a difficult journey. Despite these challenges, first-time homebuyers still made up the largest share (55%) of all agency mortgage purchase securities issuance in a decade and a record 47% of…