Mortgage Rates & Housing News
Daily mortgage rates, housing market analysis, and expert homebuying advice from industry professionals.
Latest articles
Pending Home Sales Drop 7.3% as Higher Rates Challenge Fall Buyers
September signed contracts fell in every region, while completed sales rose 1.5%. NAR’s reports measure different transaction stages, underscoring the need to compare local condit…
FICO Freezes Its $10 Mortgage Score Price as Lenders Gain New Options
FICO will keep its $10 wholesale bundle price for Preferred Program lenders using participating tri-merge resellers. The decision arrives as mortgage lenders weigh VantageScore an…
Single-Family Building Permits Slide to 845,000 as September Housing Pipeline Cools
The Census Bureau reports September single-family permits at an 845,000 annual rate, down 4.0% from August. Total housing starts fell to 1.221 million, but wide confidence interva…
New Housing Order Targets PMI, Refinance Title Costs and Manufactured Homes—What Changes Now?
An Oct. 22 executive order proposes proactive mortgage-insurance cancellation for future eligible loans, broader title-insurance alternatives on refinances and a manufactured-hous…
Mortgage rates fell for the first time in two months, but applications dropped 5.3%
The MBA's weekly survey for the week ending Oct. 16 shows the 30-year fixed contract rate down to 7.41% from 7.50% — the first decline in over two months — while purchase and refi…
Homeowners Tapped $47 Billion in Equity in Q1. Could a Blended-Rate Refinance Make More Sense Than a Second Loan?
Americans are increasingly turning to their home equity for cash, but homeowners with low existing mortgage rates face a difficult choice: preserve a favorable first mortgage by t…
MCT and Dark Matter link Empower to automate loan sale data writeback
The integration, announced Oct. 15 and available now to mutual clients, writes post-commitment data including MCT Marketplace sales back to Empower. The time savings figure is a c…
New Jersey opens fall state tax credit auction with $59.6 million in credits
NJHMFA's auction runs from Oct. 16 to Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. Eastern. The amount is face value of credits, not cash raised, and proceeds go to affordable and workforce housing producti…
Freddie Mac refreshes its FAST servicing transfer upload tool Oct. 19
Same Gateway login and one-loan ZIP rules, plus single-screen drag-and-drop uploads, a new Upload Results page and on-demand reconciliation reports, per Freddie Mac's release note…
Fannie Mae MBS files begin disclosing multiple credit score models Oct. 19
Starting with October 2026 securities, PoolTalk loan-level files add a Fannie Score, Freddie Score and Pricing Indicator. It is an investor disclosure change, not a new borrower q…
Realtor.com Market Clock moves to 4 o'clock as more metros tilt toward buyers
The Q3 2026 report counts 27 seller's markets, 49 balanced and loosening, 17 buyer's and 6 balanced and tightening among 99 metros. Realtor.com says buyer leverage is not the same…