Mortgage Rates Top 7.4% as Forecasters Bet on a Stubborn New High
The 30-year mortgage rate hit 7.49%, existing-home sales fell below 4 million, and starts dropped as builders pull back — here's what forecasters expect next.
Home prices data captures the ongoing story of how much homes cost, where those costs are shifting, and what forces are driving the changes. This hub tracks the numbers that shape one of the most consequential markets in the economy: median sale prices, inventory levels, construction activity, and the balance of power between buyers and sellers. Because housing touches nearly every household's finances and sits at the center of broader economic health, even modest shifts in these figures ripple outward into consumer confidence, labor markets, and monetary policy debates.
What makes this space worth following now is the growing divergence beneath the national headlines. Aggregate figures can mask sharply different realities from state to state and even neighborhood to neighborhood, as some regions see prices climb while others cool or stagnate. Inventory swings, changes in buyer leverage, and shifts in who's building homes—and where labor and capital are flowing instead—all factor into a housing landscape that's becoming more fragmented and harder to summarize with a single number.
Readers here will find coverage of monthly and quarterly price reports, regional breakdowns that highlight local winners and losers, data on housing starts and construction trends, and analysis of the buyer-seller dynamics playing out in cash offers, financing conditions, and negotiating leverage. Coverage also extends to the structural forces reshaping supply, including how competing demands on land, labor, and materials influence how much new housing actually gets built. Together, these threads offer an ongoing, data-driven view of a market in flux, geared toward readers who want to understand not just what prices are doing, but why.
The 30-year mortgage rate hit 7.49%, existing-home sales fell below 4 million, and starts dropped as builders pull back — here's what forecasters expect next.
Refinance applications fell to half of last year's pace as the 30-year mortgage rate hit 7.49%, a near three-year high, dragging purchase demand down 15%
US housing starts fell 2.6% in August to 1.275 million as mortgage rates near 7.5% crushed buyer demand, with completions down 27% from a year ago.
Mortgage rates near 7% are squeezing US home buyers as prices keep rising and forecasters push relief further into 2027.
US housing starts fell 12.4% in July to 1.239 million units as weak demand and affordability strain outweighed a rise in building permits.
Mortgage rates and sticky prices keep the U.S. housing market frozen, even as buyers slowly regain leverage and local sales trends diverge.
New home sales fell to 607K in July as prices hit a 5-year low, while regional data reveal a sharply divided housing market.
Zillow warns of a 2026 housing slowdown as data shows rising inventory and buyers regaining leverage nationwide.
New home sales dropped to 607K in July as prices fell nationally, though regional markets like Austin and the Northeast diverged sharply.
New U.S. single-family home sales fell 10.5% in July as high mortgage rates and prices sidelined buyers nationwide.
Cash buyers are losing share as more inventory and softer prices shift leverage toward mortgage-reliant home buyers nationwide.
Data center construction boom is pulling skilled labor from homebuilding, worsening a housing slowdown marked by falling sales and high prices.
R.I. home prices hit $525,000 in July as national data shows falling listings, soaring luxury prices, and construction labor shortages.
July housing data show a split market: Northeast sales rose, the South fell, prices diverged, and luxury homes kept surging despite high rates.
US housing starts plunged 12.4% in July, hitting a three-year low for single-family builds even as permits ticked higher.
Minnesota housing inventory hit a 7-year high in July as sales and listings rose, amid mixed national trends and rate uncertainty.
2026 is on track to be the weakest year for U.S. home sales since 2011. Mortgage rates are above 7.4% and prices are still edging up. Here's what comes next.