September is the fourth month in a row to see declining sales activity. 

A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.08% this week from 6.94% a week ago, Freddie Mac reported. A year ago, the average mortgage carried a 3.14% rate. 

Washington ranked No. 9 on the safety list overall.

Mortgage rates continued to weigh on homebuyers in September, following a brief uptick in new-home sales in August.  

At the same time, mortgage applications declined 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis on a week-over-week basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

In Seattle, home prices posted a 9.9% year-over-year gain in August, compared to a 14.5% gain in July. Month over month, prices fell 3.9%.

The only other time the market saw such change was at the beginning of the pandemic. 

Month over month in September, existing-home sales slid 1.5% to 4.71 million, which is 23.8% lower than the year before. 

New home construction missed analyst estimates in September, falling 8.1% month over month to an annual rate 1,439,000 homes, according to government statistics. 

Mortgage rates rose to 6.9%, the highest they’ve been since April 2002.

First-time homebuyers now make up 45% of current homebuyers, according to Zillow. The numbers represent a rebound from the lows of the pandemic.

The new franchise will be the brokerage’s 16th in Europe as it pursues other expansion opportunities around the world. 

The former chairman and CEO of the homebuilder died of Parkinson’s disease at 81. 

WalletHub compared more than 1,300 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 across five metrics.

Communities on the list were ranked based on economic opportunities, quality of life, diversity and where the best futures lie. 

The markets cooling fastest are many of the same places that saw the biggest spikes in home prices during the last three years.