Homebuilders boost incentives as they suddenly struggle to sell homes

Contractors work on the roof of a house under construction in the Stillpointe subdivision in Sumter, South Carolina, on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. Micah Green | Bloomberg | Getty Images After two years of...

‘We get hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties’: My late father left his investments to me and my sister, but gave me more than 50%. My sister wants half. What should I do?

Dear Quentin, My sister is two years older than me. We both are married and have incomes in the low six figures, and our husbands have similar earnings. When she was in her 20s, my sister and her husb...

Home price growth slowed in May, S&P Case-Shiller says

New homes under construction in Tucson, Arizona. Rebecca Noble | Bloomberg | Getty Images Home prices in May were 19.7% higher compared with the same month last year, according to the S&P CoreLogi...

Do not leave any paper trail: how a group of sovereign citizens used a phony credit repair business to amass a real estate empire

Bad credit? No problem. A group of alleged scam artists have been charged with running a fraudulent credit repair business and then using their clients’ identities to get mortgages on millions of doll...

Goldman Sachs cuts earnings outlook for MSCI China to zero growth

In China, people typically buy apartments before they are completed. Pictured here on June 28, 2022, are unfinished residences in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Future Publishing | Future ...

Is China Headed for a Lehman-Style Crisis? This Property Bust Is Different.

Text size The downturn in China’s property market is unlikely to lead to a meltdown that triggers a financial crisis. STR/AFP via Getty Images China’s property slump and suffering economy is lea...

People Are Backing Out of Home Purchases

Text size D.R. Horton said its cancellation rate was 24% in the latest quarter. Above, contractors at a D.R. Horton development in Florence, Ariz. Caitlin O’Hara/Bloomberg In its most recent qua...

The Federal Reserve’s inflation fight and the U.S. housing market

The Covid-19 pandemic caused chaos in the U.S. housing market, with prices skyrocketing, inventories dwindling and intense bidding wars. Then came record inflation, which drove the price of everything...

Fed can’t stop hiking interest rates even if there is a recession, former top central banker says

The Federal Reserve has to emulate Mario Draghi and do “whatever it takes” to bring inflation down and that means continuing to raise interest rates even if there is a recession, said former Richmond ...

Buy Amazon Stock: It Could Double From Here

Amazon.com has reported earnings about 100 times since it went public in 1997. Every one of those quarterly reports has shown a growing company, despite plenty of ups and downs in the economy—and the ...

The wealthy now have more time to avoid estate taxes

If your family has significant wealth, it’s now easier to avoid federal estate taxes, thanks to recent changes from the IRS. The IRS improved a strategy known as “portability,” used ...

Americans Are Getting the Stock Market Really Wrong

A reason more people consider real estate to be a better investment than stocks, bonds, gold, cryptocurrency or a bank account is the value of an average American home grew by more than 20% between th...

June home sales fall 5.4% from May, as prices set yet another record

A sign is posted in front of a home for sale on July 14, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Sales of previously owned homes in June fell 5.4% from May, according to a mo...

Adjustable-rate mortgage vs. fixed-rate mortgage: Which one is better for you?

Hello and welcome to Financial Face-off, a MarketWatch column where we help you weigh financial decisions. Our columnist will give her verdict. Tell us whether you think she’s right in the comments. A...

Mortgage demand drops to lowest level in 22 years

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images The pain in the mortgage market is only getting worse as higher interest rates and inflation hammer American consumers. Mortgage demand fell more than 6% last w...

The Fed’s next interest rate hike ‘might be the biggest in decades.’ So we asked 6 real estate pros: What might that do to mortgage rates?

What might happen to mortgage rates soon? Getty Images/iStockphoto Word on the street is that the Federal Reserve may raise rates by 1% at their July 26 meeting — as they try to quell inflation that n...

Homebuilder sentiment takes historic plunge in July

A contractor works on a new home under construction in Tucson, Arizona, U.S., on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022. Sales of new U.S. homes retreated in January after a flurry of purchases at the end of 2021, in...

A peek inside this $32.5 million mansion in Southern California

Blue Heron’s cliffside spec house spans four levels in San Diego’s La Jolla neighborhood. Blue Heron This newly built cliff-side mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Southern Californi...

Homeowners who locked in low mortgage rates have one reason to ‘celebrate’ right now, economist says

The government’s inflation numbers confirmed that the price of literally everything has gone up. But an economist said that there’s one group who actually may have benefitted from rising costs. Inflat...

The 15 housing markets in America that are now actually more affordable than they were in 2005

“Worsening affordability appears to be having an impact on demand, which could lead to prices plateauing or even correcting modestly in some markets,” one pro told MarketWatch Picks. Getty Images/iSto...

6 Apartment Stocks That Get a Rise Out of High Home Prices

Illustration by Naomi Elliott Text size Skyrocketing home prices and mortgage rates make this a tough time to buy a house. But it’s an opportunity for bargain hunters to invest in apartment real estat...

Lumber Prices Tumble After Huge Gains in 2021

Shopping for lumber at a Home Depot in Alhambra, Calif., earlier this year Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images Text size The lumber market has taken some big hits from rising inflation and a slowdown i...

5 markets where home sales are cooling fastest

Stockton, California DenisTangneyJr | iStock | Getty Images After the frenzy of bidding wars, the U.S. housing market is starting to cool, particularly along the West Coast, as mortgage interest rates...

Opinion: The SPACsplosion is about to become a liquidation frenzy — and that may be for the best

As the SPAC boom was beginning to rage two years ago, this column asked why in the world any company would want to be acquired by a former chief executive best known for executing one of the worst acq...

The Wing CEO Exits After Five Months in Top Job

The chief executive of women-focused co-working company the Wing, Jen Cho, has left the company after fewer than six months in the role. Ms. Cho declined to comment on her reasons for leaving the comp...

These are the 10 cities seeing the most price cuts for homes

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images More home sellers are dropping their asking prices as rising mortgage interest rates and inflation have slowed down competition in the housing market. Some citi...

Average rent in Manhattan was a record $5,000 last month

A Chelsea Tower rental apartments billboard. Jeff Greenberg | Getty Images The average monthly rent for a Manhattan apartment surpassed $5,000 for the first time — and brokers say demand and prices ar...

Opinion: ‘Quality’ companies are getting stronger yet their shares are down in this selloff. This is how to find the bargains.

If you’re a long-term investor, this year’s selloff is good news because it offers a great chance to pick up quality companies at a discount. But wait a second. If a company is “high quality,” why wou...

10 U.S. real estate markets that are cooling the fastest

David Ryder | Getty Images After staggering growth during the pandemic, the U.S. housing Boismarket is starting to cool — and it’s happening fastest along the West Coast. The quickest-cooling re...

Home builders cut prices and slow construction as buyers pull back, survey shows

Home builders are feeling jittery. That’s according to a June survey of home builder sentiment by John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Demand for new homes is cooling as buyers cancel orders, and builde...

Housing Market: Mountain of Woes Just Keeps Rising

The housing market is not a pretty thing right now.  Soaring prices and mortgage rates have made homes unaffordable for many buyers, and sales are falling as a result. Here’s the latest piece of bad n...

Homebuyers are canceling deals at highest rate since start of Covid

A ‘for sale’ sign hangs in front of a home on June 21, 2022 in Miami, Florida. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes dropped 3.4% to a seasonally adjus...