Homebuilders D.R. Horton and Lennar have seen their shareholder returns outpace the S&P 500 between August 2014 and August 2024. This growth in returns was promising, but recent downgrades in the investment outlook of both companies have raised concerns among analysts. Despite this, some investors remain optimistic about the industry’s prospects for future performance. It
Real Estate
In July, closed sales of previously owned homes increased by 1.3% compared to June, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.95 million units. This uptick marked the first increase in sales in five months, providing a glimmer of hope for the sluggish housing market. Despite this improvement, sales were still 2.5% lower than the
Recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows that mortgage rates have been falling for the past three weeks. Despite this trend, there has been a 15% drop in applications to refinance home loans compared to the previous week. This decline may be attributed to the fact that the demand for refinancing surged by 23%
In the wake of the Bank of England’s first interest rate cut in four years, Britain’s major high street lenders have been aggressively reducing their borrowing costs. This move has been fueled by a surge in homebuyer activity, with lenders such as Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, and NatWest now offering five-year fixed rate mortgages of under
Inflation in the United States continued to show signs of retreat in July. The consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, increased by 2.9% from a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This figure represents a decline from the 3% inflation rate recorded in June and marks the lowest reading since