Data

Pending home sales increased slightly in July for the sixth time in seven months, according to the National Association of Realtors. The Pending Home Sales Index increased 0.5 percent to 110.9 in July from an upwardly revised 110.4 in June.

Although the housing market was one of the main drivers of the crisis on the U.S. economy, the housing sector has made significant recovery and cities are beginning to find their footing in the market again.

While not as substantial as June's increase, Freddie Mac's total mortgage portfolio still expanded in July, this time at a compound annualized rate of 0.8 percent, according to Freddie Mac's July 2015 Monthly Volume Summary released on Wednesday.

Despite home price increases over the last three years, homes are still affordable by historical standards, according to the Urban Institute's Monthly Chartbook: Housing Finance At A Glance.

Multiple market indicators show solid strong stabilization within housing in June, mostly due to employment and current mortgages, according to Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index. Housing markets are the strongest they have been since 2008, with the national MiMi surpassing 80 in June. Freddie Mac attributes most of this positive growth to a surge in jobs and mortgages that are kept current in nearly all metros.

As buyers reach their price limits and show less interest in homes, housing demand lowered for the fourth consecutive month. According to Redfin's Housing Demand Index, homebuyer activity fell 5 percentage points from 113 in June to 108 in July.

New single-family home sales rebounded from disappointing June data, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 507,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD.

Home prices in the U.S. rose 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2015 for the 16th consecutive month, while home values lowered in July for the first time in four years.

Single-family homes built-for-rent rose to approximately 8,000 starts for the second quarter of 2015, compared to about 6,000 in the same period last year, according to data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and National Association of Home Builders analysis.

Monday's stock market performance brought about some anxiety among big U.S. businesses and other stakeholders while the Dow Jones dropped by 1,000 points and spent the rest of the day fighting its way back toward the break-even point.