Housing Market Tracker

Housing inventory actually fell last week. What is going on? 

Housing inventory decreased last week, while purchase application data grew 25% year-over-year! What is happening in the housing market?  In the two weeks leading up to the July 4th holiday week, our weekly Housing Market Tracker showed that housing data was stabilizing as mortgage rates approached their lowest levels of the year. However, with July […]

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Why mortgage purchase apps are on a 22-week growth streak

One of the most surprising pieces of housing economic data for 2025 is that purchase apps for the existing home sales market have shown 22 weeks of year-over-year growth. And that includes nine consecutive weeks of double-digit year-over-year growth in recent weeks. Normally, this would be a significant news story, but the confusion surrounding this

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Have slightly lower mortgage rates stabilized the housing market?

Mortgage rates have been slowly decreasing, but is this drop significant enough to influence our weekly housing data? Keep in mind that our weekend tracker reports provide insights months ahead of the reports most Americans typically read. Therefore, we closely monitor changes in our data trends whenever mortgage rates fluctuate. The last two weeks have

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Homebuyers finally catch a break with more inventory

Homebuyers in 2025 are finally getting some good news. Active housing inventory is returning to the levels we experienced before the pandemic, which means the chaotic and unhealthy housing market of the last several years is finally a thing of the past. As someone who was concerned about home prices skyrocketing out of control between

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New listings slowdown shows lack of home seller stress in 2025

The most notable housing trend for me in 2024 and 2025 has been inventory growth, particularly the increase in new listings during this time. I had set a minimal target of 80,000 new listings per week for 2025 and we’ve met that goal two times this year. However, the data for new listings is losing

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Elevated mortgage rates aren’t discouraging homebuyers

Why aren’t home sales crashing as they did in 2022? Right now we have elevated mortgage rates, trade war uncertainty, rising property taxes and home insurance, terrible consumer confidence data and a downgrade of the government’s debt, among other factors. But, housing demand continues to hold up, surprising people who can’t explain why home sales

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New listings slump. Have home sellers already called it quits?

One of the most encouraging data points for 2025 so far is that new listings have finally emerged from a two-year slump, exceeding 80,000 per week during the seasonal peak period. The question is: Have we already seen the highest new listings print for the year? We are currently in the seasonal period where we

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Mortgage rates unfazed by crazy economic headlines

In one of the most chaotic weeks for economic headlines of the year, mortgage rates remained relatively stable, which is a stark contrast to the madness caused by the Godzilla tariffs a few weeks ago. Can this stability last?  Despite elevated rates, having fewer wild fluctuations on a day-to-day basis creates a healthier mortgage market

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Mortgage rates survive budget bond scare, but end the week higher

Last week, we witnessed a pivotal moment for mortgage rates and the bond market, which some pundits have said has grown increasingly aware of our rising national debt and deficits. A bond auction last week was perceived as having soft demand, prompting media outlets and market speakers to suggest that the U.S. could face consequences

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Inventory back to 2019 levels and what that means for 2025

To start things off, I have an announcement to make, today will be my last weekly article for Altos Research. I founded Altos nearly 20 years ago to bring a new level of analytics and data to the housing market. Two and a half years ago, Altos was acquired by HousingWire, and it’s been tremendously

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