When you buy most things, you only have to consider their price. Buying a home is different. Whether or not a home is affordable depends on a number of factors beyond the list price. Mortgage rates, for example. The mortgage rate you lock in when you purchase your home helps …

A competitive housing market can be difficult for home buyers. Not only do they have to prepare for the possibility of a bidding war, they also have to be prepared to lose one. The stress and potential for disappointment is almost enough to make home shoppers feel like giving up. …

Sales of previously owned homes spiked 7 percent in September, according to new numbers from the National Association of Realtors. The month-over-month improvement included gains in every region of the country and reversed August's 2 percent decline. Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, said the sales rebound was likely helped by …

A seller's market is one where there are more buyers than there are homes for sale. And this year's market has been a great example of that. With a historically low number of homes for sale, competition and bidding wars have frustrated buyers and helped drive surging prices even higher. …

Predictions aren't easy, but Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group makes them on a monthly basis. The group's forecasts cover what they see ahead for the housing market and general economy. And, according to their October outlook, they expect inflation and consumer spending concerns to cause monetary policy to …

First-time home buyers used to make up a larger share of the homes sold in any given year. Typically, they'd account for around 40 percent of annual home sales. But younger home buyers, for a multitude of reasons, have been less active in the housing market in recent years. According …

These days, it isn't easy to find a deal. In most markets, there are more home buyers than there are available homes for sale. That puts upward pressure on prices, causes bidding wars, and means fewer bargains for buyers. So what can a budget-minded home shopper do? Well, new numbers …

Home prices have been increasing for more than just the past few months. But, according to newly released numbers from the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the increases seen this summer were widespread, consistent, and, in some cases, record setting. S&P's index, which is among the leading measures of U.S. …

New numbers from the National Association of Realtors show that, even as the summer market looked to be slowing down, homes for sale were still selling quickly. In fact, the typical property was only on the market 17 days in August and 87 percent of homes sold during the month …

If you're a prospective home buyer, the pace of new home construction should matter to you. Today's hot market and rapidly rising prices are largely due to the fact that there are fewer homes for sale these days. Combined with a high level of buyer demand, the lack of inventory …