An “Open House” sign outside a home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, US, on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. Zak Bennett | Bloomberg | Getty Images Stagnant mortgage rates, falling housing supply and ongoing economic uncertainty weighed heavily on homebuyers in December. Pending home sales, a measure of signed contracts on existing homes, dropped 9.3% last … Read more
Lisa Cook, governor of the US Federal Reserve, and U.S. President Donald Trump. Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images | Jonathan Ernst | Reuters The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Wednesday morning in a case over whether President Donald Trump has the power to fire Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook … Read more
Homes in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, US, on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. Zak Bennett | Bloomberg | Getty Images Mortgage demand spiked markedly higher last week as consumers returned from the holidays to find overall lower interest rates and then a sharp rate drop Friday on news from the White House. President Donald Trump posted … Read more
Mortgage rates fell sharply on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump said on social media that he is instructing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds. “This will drive Mortgage Rates DOWN, monthly payments DOWN, and make the cost of owning a home more affordable,” he said … Read more
US President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. Francis Chung | Politico | Bloomberg | Getty Images President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is “instructing my Representatives” to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, claiming … Read more
Mortgage rates are lower, home prices are easing, and there is more supply on the market for sale. All of that adds up to improved affordability for today’s homebuyers. Saving for a down payment, however, is still the biggest hurdle for first-time buyers. Prices nationally are basically flat compared with where they were a year … Read more
The stars look like they’re finally aligning in 2026 for Home Depot — one of seven out-of-favor portfolio stocks that Jim Cramer has called a buy. Although shares are down nearly 11% year-to-date, three recent developments point toward a recovery for the home improvement retailer. 1. November’s cooler-than-expected consumer price index (CPI) is helping the … Read more
Bob Newhart and Will Ferrell star in “Elf.” Warner Bros. In the 2003 movie “Elf,” the lead character Buddy discovers he is human, though he has spent his life raised by elves. He travels to New York City to find his real family, including his father who shares an Upper West Side apartment with his … Read more
High home prices, stubbornly high mortgage rates and now less supply are all weighing on potential homebuyers. Sales of previously owned homes rose just 0.5% in November from October and were 1% lower than November 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales came in at an annualized rate of 4.13 million units. This … Read more
A tract of new tightly packed homes are viewed along the Boulder City Parkway on January 11, 2022 in Henderson, Nevada. George Rose | Getty Images Home values have been losing ground for much of this year, with previously huge annual gains shrinking to nothing. The result is that homeowners are losing equity. Borrower equity … Read more