On prices, rent, and mortgage:

• Map Shows Where Prices Are Dropping for Newly Built Homes as Builders Target Smaller Floor Plans – Realtor.com

• Widespread softening: Almost every major housing market is seeing softer pricing. Among the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets, 49 have a weaker year-over-year home-price shift this spring than a year ago. – Fast Company

• Mortgage Rates for New Homes Are Typically Lower, New Research Finds – Realtor.com

• Residential Mortgages Experience Weaker Demand in First Quarter – NAHB

• Rent Prices Are Falling—but These 5 Coastal Cities Remain the Least Affordable – Realtor.com

• MBA: Mortgage Delinquencies Increased Slightly in Q1 2025 – Calculated Risk

• Q1 NY Fed Report: Mortgage Originations by Credit Score, Delinquencies Increase, Foreclosures Increase – Calculated Risk

• 2 Southern States Lead the U.S. With the Highest Number of Foreclosures – Realtor.com

On sales, permits, starts, and supply:

• 37 housing markets where sellers hold the most power heading into summer 2025. Among the nation’s 200 largest housing markets, 37 still have significantly less housing inventory than they did in April 2019. – Fast Company

• The Spring Home Sales Season Is Shaping Up to Be a Dud. Inventory is rising, but high home prices and mortgage rates are putting off buyers during the prime selling season – Wall Street Journal

• Weekly Housing Trends View—Data for Week Ending May 3, 2025 – Realtor.com

• Home Listings Surge to 6-Year High—but Cautious Buyers Hold Back – Realtor.com

• 2nd Look at Local Housing Markets in April – Calculated Risk

• New-Construction Insights: Builders Deliver Smaller and More Affordable Homes in These Metros, but Tariffs Threaten Progress – Realtor.com

• Highest Paid Occupations in Construction in 2024 – NAHB

• Part 2: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-May 2025 – Calculated Risk

• Permit Activity Declines in March 2025 – NAHB

• First-Time Home Buyers Are Struggling. That’s Bad News for Builders. Even with construction companies offering cheap mortgages, youngish people are finding it difficult to enter the market – Wall Street Journal

• What is driving up housing costs across the US? – Brookings

• Soft Spring Selling Season Takes a Toll on Builder Confidence – NAHB

On other developments:

• What Abundance Lacks. A bestselling progressive book gets its policy all wrong. – Foreign Policy

• US House to Claw Back Biden’s Climate Law to Fund Trump Tax Cuts – Bloomberg

• What’s new in building beautifully. Interesting developments from the last two decades – The Works in Progress Newsletter