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Housing and mortgage rates

Builder confidence, housing starts, home sales and mortgage rates: the part of the economy that reacts first to interest rates, and the stocks that trade on it.

Housing is the most rate-sensitive sector of the US economy. When Treasury yields rise, mortgage rates follow within days, buyers step back, and homebuilders cut prices or offer incentives before any of it shows up in the broader data.

The monthly cycle runs from the NAHB builder survey through housing starts and permits to new and existing home sales. Our coverage follows those releases, the homebuilder stocks that move on them, and what they say about where rates are biting.