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People walk past the headquarters of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, in Beijing, China September 28, 2018.  Jason Lee | Reuters BEIJING — China’s central bank is poised to move carefully toward easing monetary policy, even as the U.S. is on its way to tightening policy. In moving in the opposite

A home, available for sale, is shown on August 12, 2021 in Houston, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images Sales of previously owned homes increased 7% to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.29 million units in September, according to the National Association of Realtors. The organization’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun pointed to a brief

China Evergrande Group started returning a small portion of the money owed to buyers of its investment products, weeks after people protested against missed payments at its Shenzhen headquarters, pictured here on Sept. 30, 2021. Gilles Sabrie | Bloomberg | Getty Images BEIJING — China Evergrande shares briefly dropped more than 10% in opening trade

China’s real estate sector has to be “substantially smaller” to keep the overall economy healthy and stable, said a top expert on the Chinese housing market. “We have too big of a risk in the sector. We built too much housing, so the stabilization first has to come [from] trimming the sector,” Li Gan, an

A sign is posted in front of a home for sale on September 28, 2021 in San Anselmo, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Climbing mortgage interest rates caused another drop in mortgage demand for both refinances and home purchases. Total application volume fell 6.3% last week compared with the previous week, according to the

Billionaire Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder and chairman of Palantir Technologies, during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Nov. 18, 2019. Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images Peter Thiel’s proposed luxury lodge on New Zealand’s South Island has been criticized by a local environmental group who believe it is “inappropriate” for the natural landscape. The PayPal

A house for rent in Corona Del Mar, California. Scott Mlyn | CNBC Demand for single-family rental homes is showing no sign of easing up, and that is pushing rents through the roof, especially for the highest-priced properties. As a result, investors are now flooding into the market again, after falling back a bit during

Thomas Barwick Buying a first home is always a huge decision. It’s even bigger when the market has been as hot as it has in the last two years. Financial advisors say this could be the worst market for home buyers we’ve ever seen, and caution clients to perhaps wait. Certified financial planner Rick Kahler,

High-rise apartment buildings at China Evergrande Group’s under-construction Riverside Palace development in Taicang, Jiangsu province, China, on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images BEIJING — Chinese developer Evergrande made little progress toward complying with Beijing’s crackdown on real estate debt — until it was too late for investors who poured

A worker carries lumber as he builds a new home in Petaluma, California. Getty Images Rising interest rates will result in a sharp drop in refinance demand in 2022, meaning a lot less business for mortgage bankers, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s just-released annual forecast. It predicts total origination volume will drop 33% to

Residential single family homes construction by KB Home are shown under construction in the community of Valley Center, California, June 3, 2021. Mike Blake | Reuters The nation’s homebuilders aren’t seeing any relief from supply chain issues that have slowed construction recently, but high buyer demand appears to be making up for it. Builder confidence

Aerial photography of “river view house” on the side of the Yangtze River. Yichang, Hubei Province, Oct. 16, 2020. Costfot | Barcroft Media | Getty Images The fallout in China’s property sector is showing no signs of abating, as more developers face the threat of default — even as uncertainty over the fate of heavily

An exterior view of China Evergrande Centre in Hong Kong, China March 26, 2018. Bobby Yip | Reuters BEIJING — The People’s Bank of China said Friday that indebted developer China Evergrande is its own case, and that most real estate businesses in the country are stable. Property giant Evergrande has $300 billion in liabilities

In this article ETC.BF= BTC.BS=-USS Tony Andrews | Twenty20 U.S. homebuyers apparently aren’t all that interested in paying their mortgages in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. United Wholesale Mortgage, which made its public debut in January via a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) merger, began piloting crypto payments in August in a first for the industry. But CEO Mat Ishbia

frantic00 | iStock | Getty Images DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai’s economy contracted by 10.9% year-on-year in 2020, data from the Dubai Statistics Center revealed, reflecting a city hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the halting of global travel. The commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is home to 3.4 million

A foreclosure sign in front of a house in 2007. Getty Images Foreclosures are starting to surge as government and private sector programs designed to help homeowners deal with the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic have begun to expire. Mortgage lenders began the foreclosure process on 25,209 properties in the third quarter, a 32%

Global investor Barry Sternlicht told CNBC on Wednesday he continues to hold a cautious view on investing in China. “We’re not investors directly in China,” the chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group said in an interview on “Squawk Box.” “It’s not a China thing, so much as countries where we think the deck is stacked or we can’t

Prospective homebuyers view a kitchen while touring a house for sale in Helotes, Texas. Matthew Busch | Bloomberg | Getty Images Mortgage rates continued their trudge higher last week, leaving most homeowners with little to no incentive to refinance. Homebuyers, already battling a pricey market, lost more purchasing power due to those higher rates. The

A pedestrian crosses a road in front of residential buildings in Beijing, China. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images Morgan Stanley has upgraded China’s property sector to “attractive,” even as worried investors are watching closely to see if debt-saddled Evergrande might default, and whether there will be contagion. The U.S. investment bank said it

Residential single family homes construction by KB Home are shown under construction in the community of Valley Center, California, June 3, 2021. Mike Blake | Reuters Anyone out house hunting right now knows the pickings are slim, the competition is fierce and the prices are high, but one analyst claims there are actually too many

People walk past office buildings in midtown Manhattan on May 7, 2021 in New York City. Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images Before the pandemic, it would take Rob Byrnes at least 15 minutes to wait in line and grab a quick lunch at a fast-casual restaurant in midtown Manhattan. Now, in the minority

Alexandra Lashner of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, became frustrated after attempting to buy a house this year and decided to postpone homeownership. Source: Alexandra Lashner Alexandra Lashner and her husband were excited to buy their first home earlier this year. They saved up enough for a 20% down payment and had no debt. Yet they still couldn’t

A sharp jump in mortgage interest rates over the past few weeks is taking its toll on mortgage demand. Total application volume fell nearly 7% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.  The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($548,250

Even in the current low interest rate environment, mortgage payments are becoming increasingly unaffordable for the median American family, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. A median-income household would need to spend 32.6% of its yearly income on a median-priced home, the Atlanta Fed reported. And the median existing home

A pedestrian crosses a road in front of residential buildings in Beijing, China. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images On the heels of Evergrande’s debt crisis, there are increasing signs of stress in China’s property market after one developer failed to make a bond payment on Tuesday. Ratings agencies have downgraded Chinese developers Fantasia

In this article 3333-HK 6666-HK 754-HK A man drives a cart past apartment buildings at China Evergrande Group’s Life in Venice real estate and tourism development in Qidong, Jiangsu province, China, on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images Indebted developer Evergrande is set to sell part of its stake in

Prospective home buyers arrive with a realtor to a house for sale in Dunlap, Illinois. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images Higher interest rates took some recent wind out of the sails in the mortgage market. After gains the previous week, total mortgage application volume fell 1.1% last week from the previous week, according

It’s the year of the penthouse in Manhattan, with the upper-crust shelling out record prices for the highest floors of the city’s luxury towers. More than 500 New York City penthouses are likely to sell this year, which would be the largest number since 2007, according to the Corcoran Group. Penthouse 90 at 35 Hudson

A for sale sign shows the home as being “under contract” in Washington, DC, November 19, 2020. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images Signed contracts to buy existing homes increased 8.1% month to month in August, according to the National Association of Realtors, as buyers encountered higher inventory and slightly more favorable prices. Analysts

A home flipper surveys a property in Phoenix, Arizona. Joshua Lott | Bloomberg | Getty Images Home flipping has never been easy, no matter how much fun TV shows like “Flip or Flop” make it out to be. It’s been even harder lately, due to low supply, high prices and a run on housing triggered