November’s reading of 83 was up three points from October, driven by low existing inventories and strong buyer demand, the National Association of Home Builders reported, citing the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

Housing observers noted that demand for housing remains robust despite the lack of new supply.

The National Association of Realtors® announced new, pro-consumer changes to its guidance for local Multiple Listing Service broker marketplaces.

Seventy-eight percent of the 183 U.S. markets monitored by the National Association of Realtors had double-digit increases in their median home prices, a decline from the second quarter, when 94% of markets saw double-digit increases.

The supply of affordable homes on the market rose a record 13% in the third quarter as mortgage forbearance programs ended, prompting low-cost homeowners to put their properties on the market.

Atlanta’s Rodney Mason, who serves as vice president of mortgage lending with Guaranteed Rate, was named treasurer of the nonprofit, while Anita Blue, who works as an agent and credit restoration consultant at Cap Tex Realty, was named national vice president.

“Mortgage rates decreased for the first time since August, as concerns about supply-chain bottlenecks, waning consumer confidence, weaker economic growth and rising inflation pushed Treasury yields lower.” — MBA associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting Joel Kan

“This will be the first time a home lender will provide an end-to-end ‘mortgage-as-a-service’ solution through Salesforce Financial Services Cloud — a platform that thousands of financial institutions already heavily rely on.” — Rocket Cos. Vice Chairman and CEO Jay Farner

Zillow announced today it’s ending its iBuyer service, Zillow Offers, and cutting roughly a quarter of its workforce, citing the volatility the service created for the online brokerage as the motivation for the move.

Millennials are purchasing houses — finally. Over the past year, millennials made up the largest share of homebuyers: 37% according to Barron’s.

“Contract transactions slowed a bit in September and are showing signs of a calmer home price trend, as the market is running comfortably ahead of pre-pandemic activity.” — NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun

It’s been a more than a year and a half of technological innovation in real estate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency has decided to make one tool — desktop appraisals — permanent.

“There simply aren’t enough homes for sale relative to the demand fueled by millennials armed with low mortgage rate-driven house-buying power.” — First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi

The median existing-home price for all housing types in September was $352,800, up 13.3% on an annual basis, as every region in the country registered price increases.

The decrease was driven by a 5.1% month-over-month slide in the rate of multifamily starts, while single-family construction was flat.

The acquiring group includes First Multiple Listing Service in Atlanta, MIAMI REALTORS®, ACTRIS MLS in Austin, Texas, and Heartland MLS in Kansas City.