Fixed-rate mortgages increased again this week, the third consecutive week to see a rise.

“Rates keep climbing,” says Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest point since 2014 reflecting expectations of broad-based economic growth. Mortgage rates, in turn, followed the surge in Treasury yields. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage jumped 11 basis points to 4.15 percent, its highest level since March of last year.”

More buyers purchased new homes last year. The sale of newly built single-family homes rose 8.3 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year.

“The number of consumers planning to buy a new home in the near future is trending upward,” says Randy Noel, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. “Inventory remains low, but its growth in 2017 is an encouraging sign. Our members are telling us that market conditions continue to improve.”

President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address is slated for next week, but realtor.com® released its own “State of the Housing Union.” The housing market outlook is looking bright on several fronts: strong buyer demand, particularly among first-timers, and a growing U.S. economy urging more consumers to buy.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached its highest average since July this week.

“The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up 6 basis points, while the 30-year mortgage rate jumped 5 basis points to 3.95 percent,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Today’s survey rate is the highest rate in nearly four months.” 

Tax reform discussions took a major step forward this afternoon as leaders on the House Ways and Means Committee released its legislative proposal for an overhaul of the American tax code. The National Association of Realtors® believes the bill represents a tax increase on middle-class homeowners.

National Geographic and Gallup researchers teamed up to develop an index to assess happiness levels in American cities based on 15 metrics. According to the researches, some key aspects to a happy city include vacation time, civic engagement, financial security, and eating healthy. Researchers conducted nearly 250,000 interviews with adults from 2014 to 2015 in 190 metros.

Realtor.com®’s research team analyzed 150 metros based on a host of factors that looked at each city’s infrastructure, including sizing up the condition of roads and bridges, airport consumer satisfaction ratings, transit performance score, bike friendliness, and government spending on drinking water systems, electrical grids, highways, public transit, and sewage systems.

The city of Austin, Texas, has been named the “most changed” in the country over the last decade, with the most dynamic transformations to its housing market, incomes, crime rates, and economy compared to any other large U.S. metro, according to a new analysis by MagnifyMoney, a subsidiary of LendingTree. In fact, several Texas cities topped the list of most evolved economies and housing markets in the last 10 years.

New homes are expected to be a “primary driver of sales in 2018,” as 1.33 million housing starts are predicted next year—up from 1.22 million in 2017, according to Freddie Mac’s September Outlook report, which gauges future real estate activity. Total home sales are expected to increase about 2 percent from 2017 to 2018, according to the report.