U.S. pending home sales haven’t been this low since 2014, except the pandemic freeze in 2020. Mortgage rates climbed above 7%, pricing out would-be buyers.  Pending sales fell from a year earlier in every single major U.S. metro, led by Seattle and Southern California.  U.S. home prices rose just 1.

U.S. housing costs could return to “normal” within the next five or six years if mortgage rates fall and/or price growth flattens.  But the timeline varies widely depending on how rates and prices evolve–and it varies even more from metro to metro.  Costs are closest to returning to normal in San Jo

In A Nutshell: There’s still upward pressure on rates, as bond market investors have all of the same worries that have caused mortgage rates to increase by 1.5 percentage points already this year. Last Week’s Highlights   Last week’s main economic data and news all reduced the probability of a Fed r