4/25/23 Market Snapshot: U.S. housing market news, anticipated rate hikes

Despite many earnings reports during the week, the equity markets were little changed with all three indices showing slightly negative returns. The U.S. housing market drew a lot of attention this week when the National Association of Realtors announced that home prices in March had fallen for the second month in a row. The decline of 0.9% to a median price of $375,000 was the largest year over year decline since January 2012. Also, this week, the U.S. Commerce Department reported slowing housing activity in March with a decline in housing starts of 0.8%, while residential permits dropped by 8.8%.