Aly J. Yale

In this article Trying to time the market isn’t really possible—or even advised—in real estate. But if you were to try? One might look at cancellation rates—or the rate at which builders’ new home orders are canceled by consumers. Over the last year or so, they’ve certainly signaled the market’s trajectory well, mirroring buyer sentiment

In this article The Federal Housing Administration made a move last week that will make it a little easier—at least for some borrowers — to get an FHA loan moving forward. Thanks to a new waiver, lenders no longer have to flag an FHA loan rejection in the agency’s system.  Previously, this flag was used to alert

In this article Mortgage rates soared to their highest point in over two decades last month. Just days later, Zillow launched a product that fights back against those higher costs. The company’s 1% Down Payment program, which went live Aug. 24, allows eligible borrowers to make just a 1% down payment when buying a house.

In this article It’s no secret that California real estate isn’t exactly affordable. In fact, a new report from the California Association of Realtors (CAR) only drives that point home even more. According to CAR’s data, California housing affordability has now slid to its lowest level in nearly 16 years. Only a mere 16% of

In this article Mortgage rates have been trending upward since last March when the Federal Reserve began tightening the reins on inflation. Last November, they even hit a 20-year high, clocking in at over 7% on the typical 30-year loan. Now, less than a year later, they’ve broken that record again, notching yet another two-decade

In this article It looks like the housing market is back to breaking records again. According to Zillow, the typical U.S. home value just hit its highest point in July, clocking in at just under $350,000. That’s up 1.4% compared to a year prior and marks the first annual uptick in 16 months. It’s surprising, given

In this article The Federal Reserve has been actively trying to tame inflation for over a year now. Since March 2022, the central bank has hiked its benchmark interest rate 11 times—all in hopes of getting inflation down below 2%. While the efforts have so far proven unsuccessful (the nation’s inflation rate is 3.2%, as

In this article It’s common knowledge that there’s been a shortage of homes for sale for some time. Part of it is due to chronic underbuilding in the days since the housing crash, but lately, higher mortgage rates, which now hover just below 7%, according to Freddie Mac, are also an issue. It all boils

In this article Home prices seem to have turned a corner. While they’re still down compared to a year ago, they’ve steadily climbed—at least month over month—since February.  In fact, between February and May, home prices increased a full 4%, according to the CoreLogic S&P Case-Shiller Index released in July. Will that trend continue, though?