2026-10-02 · housing
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 7.28% for the week of Oct. 1, up from 7.03% the prior week and 6.34% a year earlier. Freddie Mac's chief economist said the housing market "continues to be supported by favorable economic conditions."
The Sept. 24 reading of 7.03% was itself up from 6.95% the week before.
2026-10-01 · housing
FHFA Director Bill Pulte announced on X on September 28 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would move to a single loan-level price adjustment grid for mortgages scored with either Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0, removing the 20-point downward adjustment that had applied to VantageScore under the early-September framework. Rocket Mortgage said the same day it would make VantageScore 4.0 its preferred model for eligible loans, reporting average savings of $1,600 at closing for borrowers who benefited. FICO’s stock fell more than 26% by 4 p.m. ET on September 29.
Classic FICO is still required for manually underwritten loans; FHA plans to begin underwriting with FICO 10T in January 2027.
2026-10-01 · housing
Realtor.com reported that 20.8% of active listings carried a price reduction in September, up 0.9 percentage points from a year earlier, and active inventory rose 5.4% year over year to more than 1,161,000 homes, 9.1% below typical pre-pandemic levels. The national median list price was $419,250, down 1.4% from a year ago, and homes under contract fell 4.1% year over year for a second straight monthly decline. Median days on market were 61.
Freddie Mac’s survey put the 30-year fixed rate at 7.03% on September 24, up from 6.95% the week before.
2026-09-29 · housing
Apartment List reported the national median rent fell 0.1% in September to $1,388, the first monthly decline since January, and is down 0.4% from a year earlier after year-over-year growth bottomed at -1.6% in April. The national multifamily vacancy rate fell to 7% from a February peak of 7.3%, and units took an average of 34 days to lease. Among large metros, San Antonio posted the largest annual decline at -4.5% and the San Francisco metro the largest gain at +12%.
Apartment List's September rent declines averaged -0.5 percent from 2022 to 2025 and -0.3 percent from 2017 to 2019.
2026-09-29 · housing
FHFA's seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index rose 0.3 percent in July and 2.6 percent from July 2025, and the previously reported 0.0 percent June figure was unchanged. Monthly changes across the nine census divisions ranged from -0.8 percent in the Mountain division to +1.5 percent in the Middle Atlantic, and 12-month changes from +0.6 percent in the Mountain division to +6.3 percent in the Middle Atlantic.
FHFA's July 28 release reported a 2.2 percent annual gain for May 2026.
2026-09-29 · housing
Governor Michael Barr told the Chicago Fed's Housing Affordability 2026 summit that the Atlanta Fed's homeownership affordability index fell to 68 in July 2026, the lowest in 21 years, and that about half of renters are cost burdened with about one-fourth paying at least half their income in rent. He put the national housing shortfall at roughly 2 million to 5.5 million units and said the CPI rent index in August was 34 percent above December 2019. Barr said he supported the FOMC's rate increase the prior week and that, in his base case, further policy adjustments are likely to be needed.
The Board corrected the speech on September 28 to say 20 percent of rental units rented for $1,000 or less in 2024, versus 55 percent in 1980 adjusted for inflation.
2026-09-28 · housing
FHFA reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 48,439 foreclosure prevention actions in the second quarter of 2026, bringing the total since conservatorship began in September 2008 to 7,425,684. Foreclosure starts rose 1.9 percent to 25,908 and third-party and foreclosure sales rose 4.1 percent to 3,894, while the Enterprises' serious delinquency rate held at 0.59 percent. Cash-out refinances reached 54.4 percent of refinance activity in June as the average 30-year fixed rate rose to 6.42 percent.
The first-quarter report counted 58,317 foreclosure prevention actions.
2026-09-28 · housing
Freddie Mac's August volume summary reported its single-family delinquency rate rose to 0.60% from 0.59% in July and its multifamily delinquency rate rose to 0.64% from 0.60%. Single-family refinance purchases were $6.1 billion, 19% of total single-family purchases. Fannie Mae's August summary, released September 25, reported a conventional single-family serious delinquency rate of 0.60%, up 1 basis point, and a multifamily serious delinquency rate of 0.57%, down 5 basis points.
Freddie Mac's multifamily rate counts loans two or more payments past due or in foreclosure; Fannie Mae's multifamily measure is 60 or more days past due.
2026-09-28 · housing
The Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X that mass deportations have lowered rents in Sun Belt cities, listing San Antonio down 4.8 percent, Nashville down 5.3 percent and New Orleans down 8 percent, and telling readers to "support mass deportations" for a lower cost of living. Newsweek reported that DHS did not identify the source or methodology for the figures, and compared them with Zillow data showing New Orleans rent at $1,650, down $100 year-over-year, and San Antonio at $1,600, down $80. Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said reducing immigrant labor supply "tends to raise building costs and slow new home production."
Apartment List's August national report put the median rent at $1,390, down 0.8% from a year earlier.
2026-09-28 · housing
Citing data from the real estate research site Mover Math, the Columbian reported Camas renters pay a median gross rent of $2,090, $60 above Seattle's $2,030, and the Lake Shore neighborhood $2,241, though both areas have median household incomes above $130,000. Vancouver's median gross rent of $1,702 exceeded Portland's $1,655 while its median household income of $81,338 trailed Portland's roughly $91,000 and Seattle's $123,860. The data showed 48 percent of Vancouver renters and 29 percent of homeowners are cost-burdened.
A household is counted as cost-burdened if it spends more than 30 percent of monthly income on housing; Camas is an incorporated city, and the Lake Shore figure is the unincorporated example.
2026-09-28 · housing
A U.S. Conference of Mayors survey found 96% of responding mayors said residents are very or extremely concerned about affordability, with 96% naming housing costs as the biggest concern, followed by groceries (55%) and utilities (40%). Fifty-six percent of mayors reported increased homelessness and evictions, and nearly 93% said the cost of living in their city rose in the past year. The Conference said it launched a national affordability tour on September 25, with a first stop in Albuquerque on October 8.
The Conference of Mayors said the survey was fielded August 18 to September 4 and drew responses from 113 cities; it released the results September 18.
2026-09-25 · housing
The Journal reported that rents for income-restricted affordable housing in Portland are growing faster than prices for market-rate apartments. The article's subheading says the city has rarely "seen such a narrow price gap between market-rate and affordable units."
2026-09-25 · housing
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey reported the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.03% for the week of September 24, up from 6.95% the prior week and 6.30% a year earlier. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.42%, up from 6.26% the prior week and 5.49% a year ago. Chief economist Sam Khater said the housing market "remains supported by a solid labor market and an economy that is growing at a healthy rate."
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate a quarter point on September 16, its first increase in three years.
2026-09-25 · housing
The Census Bureau and HUD reported sales of new single-family houses in August 2026 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 684,000, 6.4 percent above the July rate of 643,000 and 2.0 percent below the August 2025 rate of 698,000. The median sales price was $393,700, 5.8 percent below August 2025's $417,900, and the 483,000 new houses for sale represented an 8.5-month supply.
The report's 90-percent confidence interval on the July-to-August change is ±19.5 percentage points.
2026-09-25 · housing
The Tribune reported figures from the Ford Family Foundation's "Oregon By the Numbers" comparison of the state's 36 counties, including an average rental cost of $1,776 for a one-bedroom, one-bath unit in Multnomah County — a five-way tie with Yamhill, Washington, Columbia and Clackamas counties. The report said 44% of the county's households have experienced financial hardship, and put average property taxes at $2,837 per owner, above the statewide average of $2,087.
The data comes from the Ford Family Foundation's annual "Oregon By the Numbers" report covering all 36 Oregon counties.
2026-09-22 · housing
The Atlanta Regional Commission completed the final draft of its Housing Forward 2035 plan, which estimates the 11-county metro region needs more than 360,000 new homes by 2035. The ARC reported that half of all renters in the metro area are cost-burdened, along with a quarter of homeowners, and said the strategy targets building near employment centers and transit for families earning $55,000 a year or less. The commission expects a final vote on the plan in January.
The outlet's headline says 300K; the article's own estimate is more than 360,000 homes by 2035.
2026-09-18 · housing
The Federal Open Market Committee voted 12–0 to raise its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%, the first increase since 2023. Chair Kevin Warsh cited core PCE inflation of 3.2% and CPI of 2.4%, saying underlying inflation trends "have not meaningfully improved." The 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage rates track, reached 5% this week for the first time in three years.
The 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 6.95% in Freddie Mac's September 17 survey, up from 6.76% the prior week.
2026-09-18 · housing
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.95% in Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending September 17, up from 6.76% the prior week.
A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.26%, per the same survey.
2026-09-18 · housing
Privately-owned housing starts ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,275,000 in August, 2.6 percent below the revised July estimate of 1,309,000 and 1.2 percent below August 2025. Single-family starts rose 7.6 percent to a 918,000 rate, while total building permits fell 2.7 percent to a 1,394,000 rate; the release notes the monthly changes in total and single-family starts are within the ±90% confidence intervals.
Permits were 3.5 percent above the August 2025 rate of 1,347,000.
2026-09-17 · housing
The political committee Affordable Housing for Clark County announced a campaign to pass Charter Amendment 24, on the November ballot, which would require the county to publish a Housing Impact Analysis before adopting land-use and construction code changes affecting residential housing. The campaign cited an estimated 15,700-unit county housing deficit and projections requiring roughly 4,767 homes per year through 2045, against a past-decade average of about 3,895 units annually. Charter Review Commissioner John Jay, the amendment's sponsor, said the goal is to give the County Council "all the tools they need to assess the viability of future regulations."
The amendment does not limit the County Council's authority to adopt regulations; it requires the analysis to be published before the public hearing on a qualifying proposal.
2026-09-17 · housing
The Clark County Council on Tuesday approved impact fee increases for the La Center, Hockinson and Woodland school districts and new impact fees for four fire districts in unincorporated Clark County; Evergreen Public Schools requested its fee be reduced to zero, citing declining enrollment. La Center's fee for a single-family home rises from $3,501 to $7,536, and Hockinson's rises 95% to $15,175.
2026-09-17 · housing
President Trump sent the Senate the nomination of Matt Jones, HUD's deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing, for the dual role of HUD assistant secretary for housing and FHA commissioner, a seat vacant since Frank Cassidy stepped down in June. Jones previously worked at the Mortgage Bankers Association and on Senate committee staff; MBA and NAR issued statements supporting the nomination.
The FHA manages about $2 trillion in insured mortgages, and its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund held $188.9 billion in capital at the end of fiscal 2025.
2026-09-16 · housing
Reps. French Hill, Mike Flood, and Emanuel Cleaver told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's housing conference that implementation of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act now depends on HUD rulemaking and on the 33,295 government bodies with local zoning authority. Hill said cities that do not loosen development rules "can have your CDBG money clipped," and Flood said the bill's regulations are now being written. The bill carries no funding, and a majority of its 125 implementation items fall on HUD.
The ROAD to Housing Act became law in July 2026 without the president's signature.
2026-09-14 · housing
BLS reported the CPI-U rose 0.4% in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, after a 0.1% rise in July, with the all-items index up 3.4% over the last 12 months. The shelter index rose 0.3% in August and 3.0% over the year, and the indexes for rent and owners' equivalent rent each rose 0.2% for the month.
The September CPI is scheduled for release October 14 at 8:30 a.m. ET.
2026-09-11 · housing
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week of September 10 put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.76%, up from 6.71% the prior week; a year ago it averaged 6.35%. The 15-year fixed rate averaged 6.09%, up from 6.04%.
The prior week's survey (September 4) averaged 6.71% for the 30-year rate.
2026-09-10 · housing
The MBA reported mortgage applications fell 2.7 percent for the week ending September 4, 2026, with the refinance index down 6 percent from the prior week and 25 percent below a year earlier, and the seasonally adjusted purchase index down 0.2 percent. The average 30-year fixed conforming rate rose to 6.85 percent from 6.79 percent, which MBA deputy chief economist Joel Kan said was the highest since June 2025. Kan attributed the rise to investor concerns over inflation and the federal budget deficit.
Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the 30-year fixed rate at 6.71 percent as of September 3.
2026-09-10 · housing
The American Economic Liberties Project released a case study of institutional ownership of single-family rentals in Phoenix, which it identified as the country's second-largest market for corporate-owned single-family rentals after Atlanta. The report estimated 13–14 percent of Phoenix single-family rentals, roughly 33,000 to 72,000 homes, are investor owned, with Invitation Homes holding approximately 9,200 properties, and said Phoenix accounts for more than 40 percent of build-to-rent units constructed in the Western U.S. The report's recommendations include Arizona's HB 2325, which would cap institutional investors at 50 single-family homes statewide.
The FTC reached a $48 million settlement with Invitation Homes in September 2024 over allegations involving deceptive lease costs and hidden fees.
2026-09-09 · housing
Zillow reported that Buffalo, Chicago, and Houston posted the largest year-over-year growth in rental searches originating outside their metros, followed by New Orleans and Dallas, and that out-of-town searches now outnumber local ones in Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Hartford, and Nashville. Zillow chief economist Mischa Fisher said growing out-of-town rental search share indicates "a developing pipeline" of future in-migration, and CNBC noted rental demand is typically a leading indicator of home sales. The markets drawing the most renter interest have median home prices below the July national median of $434,100 reported by the National Association of Realtors.
Apartment List reported August rents rose month over month for the first time in four years while remaining slightly below August 2025 levels.
2026-09-08 · housing
A TRD Data analysis of the Census Bureau's most recent five-year American Community Survey estimates found 47.6 percent of U.S. renters spend at least 30 percent of their income on rent, a rise of nearly 2 percentage points from 2020 to 2024. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach ranked first among metros, with almost 61 percent of renters spending about a third or more of their income on rent.
Spending 30 percent or more of income on housing is the federal government's standard definition of cost burden.
2026-09-07 · housing
The AP reported, in a story datelined Portland, that units priced for renters at 60–80% of area median income are sitting vacant in several cities while the lowest-income renters cannot find housing. The Portland Housing Bureau counted more than 1,700 vacant affordable units in the city, an overall vacancy rate of 7.5%, most of them priced for renters at 60% of area median income. The National Low Income Housing Coalition counts about 4 million affordable rental units available for the country's 11 million extremely low-income renter households.
The article puts a healthy vacancy rate at around 5%.
2026-09-07 · housing
The Atlanta Regional Commission unveiled Housing Forward 2035, the first regional housing plan for the 11-county Atlanta area, setting a target of 367,000 new homes by 2035 and calling for a four-fold increase in affordable home production for households earning under $55,000 a year. The plan cites a shortage of more than 200,000 affordable homes for lower-income households and calls for preserving 104,000 existing affordable units at risk of loss; the commission lacks zoning authority, so the plan depends on voluntary adoption by member governments.
ARC's analysis found current market trends on track to meet 25% of housing demand from households earning less than $55,000 a year; formal adoption is expected in late 2026 or early 2027.
2026-09-04 · housing
Shelterforce reported that 440,159 federally assisted homes reach their latest tracked federal subsidy or restriction end date between 2026 and 2030, based on new National Housing Preservation Database tabulations prepared for the outlet. The tabulations show 328,827 LIHTC homes with tracked affordability end dates in that window — 12.3 percent of the tax-credit stock tracked in the database. The article described the count as a preservation calendar, not a prediction of how many homes will be lost.
2026-09-04 · housing
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.71% for the week ending September 3, up from 6.66% the prior week and 6.50% a year ago. The 15-year fixed averaged 6.04%, up from 5.98%. Freddie Mac said purchase demand has remained relatively stable.
Realtor.com reported the 6.71% average is the highest weekly PMMS reading of 2026.
2026-09-02 · housing
The Census Bureau reported that construction spending during July 2026 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,157.6 billion, 0.5 percent below the revised June estimate and 3.8 percent below the July 2025 estimate. Private residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $859.0 billion, and residential spending overall was 7.3 percent below its year-ago rate.
The Census Bureau's August 2026 construction spending release is scheduled for October 1.
2026-09-02 · housing
Real estate brokerage Corcoran reported that Manhattan's median rent reached $5,295 in July, its highest level on record, up 6 percent from a year earlier. Average monthly rents were $4,088 for a studio, $5,486 for a one-bedroom, $8,054 for a two-bedroom and $12,228 for a three-bedroom. Rental inventory was down 22 percent compared with July 2025.
2026-09-01 · housing
The Oregonian reported that Oregon is now the nation's 12th most expensive state in an annual federal survey of housing, utility and retail costs, with Portland, Corvallis and Bend ranking among the most expensive metro areas in the country. The paper attributed the rise in housing costs to the state's failure to add new homes as the population grew during the 2010s; housing costs in the Portland area are 25% higher than the national average.
2026-08-27 · housing
Apartment List reported that the national median rent rose 0.1% in August to $1,390, the seventh consecutive monthly increase, while rents remained down 0.8% from August 2025. The national multifamily vacancy index fell to 7.1%, its first decline since late 2021, and the firm said San Francisco and San Jose posted the nation's fastest year-over-year metro rent growth at +11% and +7.9%.
The firm's vacancy index peaked at 7.3% in February 2026, the highest level since its tracking began in 2017.
2026-08-26 · housing
Residents of the 180-unit Battle Ground Mobile Home Community said they will attempt to buy their park after receiving notice in late June that the owner, GSC Investments, put it up for sale; the nonprofit ROC Northwest declined to assist, saying keeping rents affordable while meeting financial requirements would cost too much. Residents said lot rents jumped $200 after the 2022 sale to GSC and now range from $850 to $1,350, and Washington's rent-stabilization law caps increases at 5 percent for manufactured home parks. The Clark County Council is considering permanent protections for manufactured home parks, but they would apply only to parks in unincorporated areas, not within Battle Ground city limits.
A July National Low Income Housing Coalition report put the wage needed to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment in Clark County at $32.25 an hour.
2026-08-26 · housing
The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index posted a 1.5% annual gain for June 2026, up from a 1.2% rise the previous month, with the 20-City composite up 2.1%. Chicago reported the highest annual gain among the 20 cities at 6.9%, while Seattle posted the lowest, falling 2.0%; the non-seasonally-adjusted National and 20-City indices each rose 0.4% month over month.
2026-08-26 · housing
Sales of new U.S. single-family homes dropped 10.5% in July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 607,000 units from June's upwardly revised pace, according to Census Bureau and HUD estimates released August 25. The median new house price of $393,800 in July was 0.9% lower than a year earlier; Reuters reported that high mortgage rates and prices weighed on the market.
2026-08-25 · housing
Seven agencies — the FDIC, NCUA, OCC, CFPB, HUD, DOJ, and FHFA — published a notice rescinding the February 2022 Interagency Statement on Special Purpose Credit Programs, effective on its August 25 publication. The 2022 statement had encouraged lenders to use the Equal Credit Opportunity Act's special-purpose credit program provision to meet the credit needs of specified classes of persons; the notice states that all such programs must comply with ECOA, Regulation B, and the Fair Housing Act, and that federal law does not authorize generalized remedial "equity" initiatives absent specific cases of unlawful discrimination.
HUD withdrew its own special-purpose credit program guidance in September 2025, and the CFPB withdrew its December 2020 advisory opinion on the programs as of June 17, 2026.
2026-08-24 · housing
NAR's Pending Home Sales Index, which tracks signed contracts on existing homes, fell 2.3% from June and 2.2% from a year earlier, reaching its lowest level since January 2026, with declines in all four regions led by a 4.7% monthly drop in the West. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said the year's highest mortgage rates "hit right in the middle of summer," pulling back signings; pending contracts stand 30% below their 2019 level.
NAR's July existing-home sales report, released the prior day, showed sales at a 4.06 million annual rate with a median price of $434,100.
2026-08-21 · housing
Census Bureau and HUD data released Tuesday showed housing starts fell 12.4% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.239 million units, 13.5% below the July 2025 pace. Single-family starts fell 9.9% for the month to an 808,000 annual rate, and starts on buildings with five or more units measured 421,000, down 7.1% year over year. Building permits rose 5% to a 1.443 million annual rate.
The supply of new single-family homes stood at 9.3 months in June, against roughly 6 months in a balanced market.
2026-08-21 · housing
Gov. Tina Kotek pointed to an 11.3% increase in Oregon housing permits through June 30, as permitting in the rest of the country declined 1.3%, as evidence the state's housing decline is reversing. Willamette Week reported that permitting reached nearly 18,000 units in Kotek's first year, fell to fewer than 15,000 in each of the past two years, and remains below the 36,000-units-a-year target she set in her 2023 inaugural address, a target since lowered to 29,359 units.
2026-08-21 · housing
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.65% for the week ending August 20, down from 6.67% the prior week and the second consecutive weekly decline. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.95%, down from 5.96%.
A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.58%.
2026-08-20 · housing
Open The Books, an organization that tracks government spending, released a report Monday analyzing state median household incomes, the federal House Price Index, and HUD spending on 18 housing programs from 2015 to 2024. It found median home prices outpaced median household wages in all 50 states over the decade, and calculated that more than $460 billion in HUD spending reduced what the group calls the "affordability gap" by 2.75%, a change the report characterizes as statistically insignificant. Idaho had the highest affordability-gap score at 83.3; Louisiana the lowest at 6.6.
The report, "Extreme Makeover: American Dream Edition?," is published at openthebooks.com.
2026-08-20 · housing
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson signed Executive Order 2026-4, directing an interdepartmental team across utilities and housing agencies to streamline permitting and creating a Housing Production Task Force to recommend policies on production and displacement. City data showed permit reviews averaging 374 days for large multifamily projects against a 180-day target, and 117 days for middle housing against a 60-day goal. The mayor's office said the task force will deliver a status update with policy recommendations no later than February 2027.
The Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections set the 180-day and 60-day review targets in October 2025 as part of a goal of halving construction permit review times.
2026-08-20 · housing
The Vancouver City Council on Monday approved the 82-home Mt. Hood Vista subdivision in east Vancouver, along with an associated zone change, over neighbors' objections. Planning documents show lots ranging from 2,500 to 4,000 square feet, with most at the lower end of that range.
Neighbors objected in May 2026 to the developer's plan to remove trees from the site.
2026-08-19 · housing
Clark County scheduled four meetings through mid-October to resolve infrastructure concurrency, urban growth boundary and climate issues before adopting the 20-year comprehensive plan it began updating in early 2023. Developers told the county that its concurrency code interpretation, which paused land use hearings in June, could shut down the housing pipeline, while Ridgefield, Battle Ground and Camas are seeking urban growth boundary expansions that the Friends of Clark County group opposes. The county council has public hearings on October 6 and 13, when it is expected to adopt the plan.
The county's density goal is six residential units per acre; Ridgefield's city manager said the city has been developing almost eight per acre.
2026-08-19 · housing
A USC Lusk Center for Real Estate report found more than 10,200 accessory dwelling units were completed in Los Angeles County in 2025 — a record — accounting for 37% of the county's new housing. Overall county housing production fell more than 4% in 2025, to 27,293 new units from 28,498, and the county has produced fewer than 125,400 units since 2021 against a state-mandated goal of 812,000 new permitted units by 2029.
The LA County Board of Supervisors approved $3.8 million in state funding in March 2026 to support ADU production.
2026-08-18 · housing
United for ALICE released 2024 data showing 38 percent of Clark County's roughly 202,000 households do not earn enough to cover basics including housing, food, childcare, healthcare, and transportation, though they earn above the poverty level. The data showed 74 percent of single-female-headed households with children face financial hardship, and identified Fruit Valley and downtown Vancouver as the ZIP codes with the most struggling households.
The poverty level in Clark County is an annual income of $15,960 or less; United for ALICE's data counts 15,266 county residents below it.
2026-08-18 · housing
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a Housing Advisory Council, chaired by JPMorganChase, to press for zoning and permitting reform, expanded capital for housing production, and skilled-trades workforce measures following passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. Council members include James Hardie, UMH Properties, and Citi. The Chamber said it will distribute its Strong Foundations playbook through its network of 1,500 state and local chambers to identify local barriers.
A March analysis cited in the article puts the U.S. housing shortage at 4.7 million homes.
2026-08-17 · housing
The Portland Planning Commission voted unanimously on July 14 to send the Central City Code Amendments Project, a package of downtown zoning changes aimed at converting empty office space to housing, to City Council. Downtown office vacancy stood at 29.6% in the second quarter of 2026, according to a Kidder Mathews report. The current draft raises height limits for qualifying residential projects but contains no financial incentives.
A City Council vote on the package is expected this fall or winter.
2026-08-17 · housing
The quarterly RCN Capital/CJ Patrick Company investor sentiment index, which surveys more than 300 fix-and-flip and rental investors, fell for the second straight quarter to an all-time low at the end of June. 26% of respondents said market conditions are better than a year ago, down from 35% in the first quarter, while 45% said the market has gotten worse, the highest share in the survey's history. CJ Patrick CEO Rick Sharga said investors purchased 23% fewer homes in the first quarter of 2026 than the previous quarter, and 32% of respondents do not plan to buy any properties this year.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act generally prohibits investors holding at least 350 single-family homes from acquiring additional ones.
2026-08-17 · housing
Realtor.com's July 2026 Rental Report found buying a starter home cost $858 more per month than renting one across the 50 largest metros, with the gap as small as $19 in Orlando. The median listing price of a 0- to 2-bedroom starter home fell 2.9% year over year in July while rents declined 1.4%, and mortgage rates averaged 6.54% in July, down from 6.72% a year earlier. The report named Oklahoma City, Orlando, Seattle, Miami, Tampa, Las Vegas, and Nashville as metros where starter prices fell faster than rents while wages grew at least as fast as the 3.8% national rate.
Realtor.com's Market Clock found 70% of the 100 largest metros now favor buyers or are moving in that direction, up from 52% a year ago.
2026-08-14 · housing
San Francisco is cutting its inclusionary housing requirement from 15 percent of new builds to 5 percent this summer and growing its housing trust fund to $125 million, while Chelsea and Waltham have cut their mandates and Cambridge is studying its policy. Mayor Michelle Wu said she is not considering a change to Boston's 20 percent requirement; her office said the city permitted 1,643 new housing units in the first half of 2026, the highest first-half total since 2022. The Globe reported Boston's requirement has produced about 3,000 affordable units in the last decade.
Wu raised Boston's inclusionary requirement from 13 percent to 20 percent, including 3 percent set aside for Section 8 voucher holders, in her first term.
2026-08-14 · housing
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the July all-items Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% from June and 3.4% year over year, down from June's 3.5% annual increase. The shelter index rose 0.1% for the month — which BLS said accounted for roughly two-thirds of the monthly all-items increase — and 3.2% from a year earlier, with the rent and owners' equivalent rent indexes each up 0.3% for the month.
The all-items index had fallen 0.4% month over month in June.
2026-08-14 · housing
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.67% in the week ending Aug. 13, down from 6.69% the prior week; the 15-year rate averaged 5.96%, down from 6.01%. Freddie Mac said "recent increases in purchase and refinance applications suggest that borrowers continue to respond to even modest changes in mortgage rates."
A year ago the 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.58%.
2026-08-13 · housing
Zillow's July Market Report put the typical U.S. rent at $1,962, up 2.3% from a year earlier, with 39.8% of rental listings offering a concession, up from 36% a year earlier. Home sales rose 7% year over year — what the report called "the strongest annual gain of the year" — while newly pending listings grew 0.3% from a year ago and fell 7.7% from June. For-sale inventory stood 1.5% above year-ago levels, a 32-month streak of supply gains.
Zillow's August Market Report is scheduled for release September 8.