Weekly Housing Headlines

Mortgage applications increased 3.6% from one week earlier; a report from the National Association of Realtors shows a 1.7% decrease in July home sales; credit availability in June increased to its highest level since July 2022; mortgage holder equity reached $18 trillion for the first time on record while annual home price growth reached a 14-month high in July; mortgage delinquency decreased slightly in Q2 2026; and the latest homeownership rate declined to 65% in the second quarter of 2026.

Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey
Mortgage Bankers Association - 8/12/2026
Mortgage applications increased 3.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 7, 2026.

NAR Existing-Home Sales Report Shows 1.7% Decrease in July
National Association of Realtors - 8/11/2026
Month-over-month sales increased in the Northeast, held steady in the West, and declined in the Midwest and South. Year-over-year sales rose in the Midwest and West and were flat in the Northeast and South.

Mortgage Credit Availability Increased in July
Mortgage Bankers Association - 8/11/2026
Credit availability in June increased to its highest level since July 2022, as greater availability and expanded guidelines for ARM and streamline refinance loans, including some with lower documentation requirements, drove most of the increase.

Mortgage Holder Equity Jumps to Record $18T; Annual Home Price Growth at 14-Month High
MortgagePoint - 8/10/2026
Mortgage holder equity reached $18 trillion for the first time on record while annual home price growth reached a 14-month high in July, according to Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s August 2026 Mortgage Monitor Report.

Mortgage Delinquencies Decrease Slightly in the Second Quarter of 2026
Mortgage Bankers Association - 8/13/2026
The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.37 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the second quarter of 2026.

Homeownership Rate Edges Down to 65%
Eye On Housing - 8/13/2026
Compared to the peak of 69.2% in 2004, the homeownership rate is currently 4.2 percentage points lower and remains below the 25-year average rate of 66.3%.

Inflation Eases to 3.4% in Positive Sign for Mortgage Rates
Realtor.com - 8/12/2026
The Consumer Price Index Report released Wednesday showed headline inflation rose just 0.1% in July and cooled to 3.4% annually, down from 3.5% in June.

U.S. home price insights – August 2026
Cotality - 8/10/2026
Inventory-constrained Midwest and Northeast markets are still seeing firm price growth, while many former boom markets in the South and West are adjusting to more supply, weaker affordability and greater buyer leverage.

Over 2.5M U.S. properties face wildfire risk with $1.4TN exposed - Cotality report finds
Cotality - 8/12/2026
More than 2.5 million properties across the 10 most exposed states in the western U.S. carry a moderate or greater risk of wildfire. These properties represent a combined reconstruction cost value of nearly $1.4 trillion.

Existing-home sales in June signal a low-turn, slow-burn housing market
Mortgage Professional America - 8/11/2026
The U.S. housing market has settled into a phase of unusual inertia. Existing-home sales registered just 3.1% of US households in June, well below the 1991-to-2019 historical average of approximately 4.5%.