for "nightly business report," i'm diana olick in washington. >>> analysts are bullish on fitbit and that is where we begin tonight's "market focus." strong sales of the fitness company's latest devices prompted citigroup to increase its earnings and revenue estimates and reiterate its buy rating on the stock with a $30 price target. similarly, pacific quest raised its unit estimates for the current and for the second quarter. shares of fitbit soared over 12% to 1701. >>> shares of gopro surged on a report that the company hired an industrial designer from apple. the longtime apple employee is expected to create a new hardware design group at gopro. that report sent gopro shares up 19% to $13.92. >>> valiant pharmaceutical's outgoing ceo michael pearson agreed to give a deposition to a senate committee investigating the company's controversial drug price increases. previously pearson had declined to cooperate with the subpoena issued by the committee. the deposition is set to take place on monday. valiant shares were up 3% to 3310. >>> clovis oncology saw its shares fall after the ph

our real estate reporter, diana olick, breaking down numbers. know you've been following this pulte saga, as well. if you want to have comment here, please do. but really, these mortgage rates are the crux of the story. >> really, the mortgage rates are the story today for us, at least. that debate will go on, i'm sure, for weeks to come. but look, when the fed raised rates late last year, it looked like mortgage rates would follow. some predicted the 30-year fix would head toward 5% or even higher. not so much. take a look. the average contract interest rate on the 30-year already headed -- which was already below 4%, headed even lower last week to 3.59%, according to freddie mac. that's down from close to 4 and a quarter last summer. why? well, a combination of janet yellen spoog spooking the market. the ecb, ongoing low oil prices. take your pick. the drop in rates is boosting refinances, but last week it did nothing for mortgage applications to buy a home. both home buyers and sellers think this was a bad time to make a deal. that according

diana olick reports. >> reporter: even when you're talking tiny, size matters. while tiny homeowners share similar values, the very designs of their tiny structures are all their own. ryan mitchell owns a tiny house in charlotte, north carolina and touted tiny living at a conference he organized recently in asheville. >> people are very skeptical, but when you step into some of these houses like we have here, at the conference, things just kind of click. >> i lived here for four years. i built it myself. >> reporter: alicia built her 24-square foot home for $200. there's no room for a fridge so she uses a clay pot to cool her food. this is my plate. inside i have some yogurt and cheese right now. >> reporter: she saved her earnings to pay off student loans, but the inspiration behind the house was growing up with hoarders. that made her think small. >> stuff doesn't necessarily make your life happy, and for me happiness is being able to go where i want and do what i want and be able to help people because i'm not attached. >> reporter: if that's too tiny for you

our diana olick has some answers. >> reporter: the cherry blossoms are out. >> a couple of bricks. >>e the home buyers like matthew williams hamilton. >> i noticed it picked up a lot in the last month. i think it will get more come p pettive in the spring. i think march is the new april. it used to be april. but now with the weather is changing we have had a lot of people out. >> reporter: house hunting season but as a seller, which is the best month to list. >> right now it is early may. the reason is because inventory bein, a lot of home buyers have to put in multiple offers and extending the length of the home buying season. >> there are 9% fewer homes available this year according to zillow and as a fast as listing come on they come off quickly. homes listed in may will sell 18 days faster and for 1% more than the average listing. locally the timing shifts. if you are in new york, philadelphia, chicago or l.a., early may is good, but if you are in atlanta, miami or d.c., better to list in april. for san diego and st. louis, march is the sweet spot. no matter the timing, most buyer

diana olick has our first sweat equity story. >> reporter: it's hard to tell which is more powerful. the beat from the 8:00 a.m. high-intensity circuit class at the fitting room on manhattan's west 19th street, or the pounding of jackhammers just six blocks north in what will be the new pent house corporate headquarters of peloton, a live streaming indoor cycling startup. whichever the winner, boutique fitness is winning the workout wars in manhattan and across the anything. >> business companies are one of the two or three biggest tenants in new york city in this area. there's tons of boutique fitness all up and down not just downtown but all of manhattan. >> reporter: not just fitness. as he said, boutique fitness. what exactly makes something boutiq boutique? >> interesting question. for us specifically, boutique, we really take the best aspects of a personal training session and we combine that with the best aspects of a group exercise class. >> reporter: boutique is code for personal attention. classes often catering to the schedules of a working clientele, with all the added am

for "nightly business report," i'm diana olick in washington. >>> finally, crackerjack is ending its 125-year-old tradition of including a toy surprise in every box. it's replacing the toy with stickers they contain digital codes, codes lead to baseball-inspired games that consumers can play on their smartphones. pepsi's frito lay is going to tweak the logo and the packaging for a more contemporary look. no prize in a crackerjack? >> leave the prize! do we always have to be on our phone? >> that's it for "nightly business report" for tonight and this week. see you next week. >> see you preside gwen: big wins for the front runners had and that front runners. and here at home, a currency makeover in the works. martha: from humble winner. >> this has been an amazing week. gwen: donald trump says he is ready to be more presidential, but is he? >> in the case of line ted -- lying ted cruz. and i love runningg against crooked hillary. martha: his new strategy with an eye toward the presidency. y.and a front runner turning her

diana olick joins us now. what is behind the drop?y is improving and new households are growing, but two-thirds of those new households are renters. that's pushing the homeown ownership rate lower yet again. the nation's home ownership rate fell to 63.5% in the first quarter of this year. that's not only down from q-4, but from a year ago as well. home ownership peaked in 2004 at 69.2%. it's now close to the lowest level in 50 years. and the problems continue to be tighter mortgage lending, higher home prices, and the fact that rents are so high now, that people can't save for that down payment. take a look at this very cool map from seattle real estate agency. it shows home ownership changes since 1950. the darker the green, the higher the home ownership rate. you notice how the west gets very light after the housing crash. and doesn't really come all the way back. that's where prices are highest. even in the northwest. the middle has always had the highest home ownership rate due to the lower prices in the midwest, but it's even lig

diana olick joins us now. good to have you here as always. sales of new homes are falling, the supply of existing homes for sale is falling to new lows. why the weakness? >> well, it's as you said. we're talking about price. you saw it in the west which is the priciest markets. we'd seen the most activity in newly built homes on the high end the last couple of years but that part of the market is starting to soften and the demand is really on the low end, on that entry-level buyer. unfortunately the builders don't tend to build for that buyer. but we did see a jump in march numbers in newly built homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000. they jumped to their highest level since 2007. so tyler, that's really where the demand is. the question is will builders put in that supply? >> why don't they want to build if the demand is there? >> unfortunately, it's all about the margins. we talk about that all the time. it costs a are the lot of money to put up a new home and those costs are increasing, for the land, labor, materials. for a home build

as diana olick explains that financial incentive for buyers who need it most is not what it used to be. >> reporter: it used to be a big factor for first-time home buyers, owning a home gets you a tax break. not so much anymore, not for most young buyers anyway. near record low mortgage rates and a higher standard deduction make it hard for a lot of buyers to qualify. here's why. the standard marital deduction has risen from $1,300 in 1972 to $12,600 today, meaning the first $12,600 of itemized deductions has no benefit to consumers. a typical first-time home buyer buying a home around $200,000 pays less than $12,000 in mortgage interest and property taxes annual, not enough to hit the itemization level. even with other deductions that write the taxpayers over that $12,600 limit, the tax savings are minimal. the mortgage interest thdeductif the largest federal expenditures at about $70 billion a year but does little to boost home ownership because it favors wealthier buyers purchasing expensive homes. 77% of the benefits go to homeowners with incomes above $100,000. i'm diana oel nick

for "nightly business report," i'm diana olick in washington. >>> finally, crackerjack is ending its 125-year-old tradition of including a toy surprise in every box. it's replacing the toy with stickers they contain digital codes, codes lead to baseball-inspired games that consumers can play on their smartphones. pepsi's frito lay is going to tweak the logo and the packaging for a more contemporary look. no prize in a crackerjack? >> leave the prize! do we always have to be on our phone? >> that's it for "nightly business report" for tonight and this week. see you next week. >> see you preside ♪ it's all right, it's okay ♪ ♪ doesn't really matter if you're old and gray ♪ ♪ it's all right, i say it's okay ♪ ♪ listen to what i say ♪ it's all right, doing fine ♪ ♪ doesn't really matter if the sun don't shine ♪ ♪ it's all right, i say it's okay ♪ ♪ we're gettin' to the end of the day ♪ (church bell chimes) (door creaking)

and diana olick reporting for the fitness industry, the workplace/fitness industry. >> well, you don't guns like that the just working the feet. >> no. >> and santelli exchange, and what does your desk look like, rick? >> well, i have one of those at home just in case they keep tinkerring with the energy markets, every house is going to need to generate some electricity, and this is my draghi thursday desk. and mario draghi's press conference come and gone, and what is your observation >> well, one, no new news in the press conference and in the meeting, and the last one march 10th when he announced the expansion of the corporate bond buying and gave the details after the presser, and that is the new news. but more to the next level, draghi was hit with a lot of questi questions about the negative interest rates and extreme policies, and whether it is hurting the pension industry or causing a rise of the third-party political movements in europe, because they are worried about getting the future, and he defended himself there. >> and stop right there oso we don't lose the audience, but

diana olick has the numbers for us. dian diana, how do they look?existing home sales up 5.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million units. that is right along expectations. we did have a slight downward revision for february. remember we had a big drop in february, so we made up for this nicely in march. but we're still only up 1.5% year over year. sales strong in the northeast and midwest, sales up nearly 11 and 10% respectively, those two areas of the country had been trailing the recovery. so we're seeing strong gains there. that's the good news. not so good news on inventory 1.98 million homes for sale, that is down 1.5% year over year. we're just at a 4.5 month supply and days on the market at 47. the realtors calling that quite quick. that low supply is pushing prices ever higher. the median price of an existing home sold in march 222,000 up 5.7% year over year. and interesting in the different price ranges. we're seeing very weak sales on the very low end where there's really no supply. but we're also seeing weakening in the mil

our own diana olick in d.c. >> scott, more than 12,000 people watched me do this live h on facebook thisorning, and we are talking about the big business potential, and we will bring you the big players coming up next. sup jj, working hard? working 24/7 on mobile trader, rated #1 trading app on the app store. it lets you trade stocks, options, futures... even advanced orders. and it offers more charts than a lot of other competitors do on desktop. you work so late. i guess you don't see your family very much? i see them all the time. did you finish your derivatives pricing model, honey? td ameritrade. freshly made in the tokyo-japanese tradition, each batch is small. special. unique... every bowl blurring the line between food...and art. when you cook with incredible ingredients... you make incredible meals. fresh ingredients. step-by-step-recipes. delivered to your door. get your first two meals free blueapron.com/cook. test. test. test. you shouldn't have to go far to get the help you're looking for. that's why at xfinity we're opening up more stores closer to you. where you can use al

diana olick has the numbers. >> that's right. home builder sentiment at 58, that is unchanged in april compared to a month ago. and that's the third straight month of unchanged builders saying they are, quote, cautiously optimistic of the housing market this spring. but it's not a big move higher, which you might expect given the spring season. breaking down the three components of this index, sales expectations over the next six months rose one point to 62. buyer traffic up one point to 44, but current sales condition came down to 63. so they're seeing more traffic, they're seeing more interest, they're not seeing more signed contracts. now, as for regionally this is a three-month running average, all areas of the country have seen lower builder sentiment over the last three months on the average, northeast and west down two points, midwest and south down one point. again, home builders sentiment in april unchanged at 58. it's a little bit better than last year, 56 one year ago. back to you guys. >> thank you very much, diana ol

i'm diana olick.ou're seeing the attorney general saying goldman saks will pay $5 billion to settle federal and state investigations into the sale of its mortgage-backed securities prior to the financial crisis. goldman is accused of misrepresenting the quality of the loans it packaged and sold to investors, almost 8 years after the collapse of the mortgage market. jpmorgan, bank of america, citi, morgan stanley, even late friday night wells fargo announcing it i would pay over a billion dollars in a settlement with the fha over faulty loans. back to you. >> thank you. >>> 77 years after the nazis looted a modigliani, the current buyers may be revealed due to the panama papers. robert frank joins us with this incredible story. >> this was an amazing, some new leaks from the panama papers shedding light on the ownership of a $25 million painting that may have been stolen by the nazis. swiss prosecutors over the weekend searching the geneva free port warehouse for this painting, called seated man with a

diana olick will give us more color on march new home sales. rick, as you said we did see that revision higher in february. so you look at this, yes, it's a miss down 1.5%. we were looking up 1.6%. we were looking for 520,000, we got 519. not so far off. what i'm most interested in is the pricing here. the median sale price of a home sold in march was $288,000. that is down from $293, 400 a year ago and that's good news because we have seen really overheating prices in both the existing and the new home market. so it's good to see prices coming off a little bit. builders have been very, very stubborn about this saying that they don't have the margins to decrease prices. they're not building on the entry level, which is where we really need the supply. we have a 5.8 month supply at this current sales pace of new homes for sale. but we really do need to see more construction. we saw a drop in housing starts. but again, right along expectations. not a terrible number, not a great number, right in the middle. back to you guys. >> thank you very much

joining us now are robert frank and diana olick. have good news about the middle market of housing? >> finally. the middle sector is starting to show some big gains. the middle sector, i'm talking between $100 and $500,000 that, is 75% of home sales today. and they're seeing the biggest gains in sales year over year. up over 15%. it's the high end, that was the headline in the report from the national association of realtors. the high end really coming down. they saw growth year over year in sales of $1 million plus homes up just 4.6%. and we've seen gains of over 20% in the high end market. so that is the big shift we're seeing now is back to that middle range. the loaners are in deep trouble. >> there are two-ways to look at a slowdown. things are cracking, we're in trouble. number two, things are so good that there's simply no homes to buy. >> well, we're seeing this dramatic and sudden inversion in the housing market. so for years it was just the high end is doing great. mass market not so great. dianne e dianne highlighted that

diana olick has more. >> it used to be a big factor for first time home buyers, owning a home gets youax break. not so much anymore. at least not for young buyers. near record low mortgage rates and a higher standard deduction make it hard for a lot of buyers to qualify. here's why. the standard marital deduction has risen from $1300 in 1972 to $12,600 today. meaning that the first $12,600 worth of itemized deducks have no benefit to consumers. a typical first time home buyer financing 95% or less of a median priced u.s. home, which saran $200,000, pays less than $12,000 in mortgage interest and property taxes annually. that is not enough to hit the itemization level. even with other deductions that bring the taxpayer over that limit, the tax savings are minim minimal. the mortgage interest deduction is one of the largest federal expenditures at about $70 billion a year, but it does very little to boost home ownership because it favors wealthier buyers, purchasing more expensive homes. about 77% of benefits went to the homeowners with incomes above $100,000. oh, well. if you want to ta

diana olick joins us now to explain how it works. >> if you're worried about the overheated home pricesning into another housing bust, you might consider this. starting today, dallas-based value insured is offering insurance on your down payment if your home value falls. here's how it works. say you're buying a $200,000 home and you put 10% down. that's $20,000. to protect that down payment, you pay value insured about $1200 and they insure you for seven years. three years later, you decide to sell, but the value of your home has fallen by $30,000. value insured will pay you the amount of the loss up to that $20,000 down payment. in other words, whatever skin you put in the game is insured. you only get the payout if you move. and you must be an owner occupant. if you're an investor, this is not for you. joining us now to discuss the product is a ceo of value insured, joe melendez and barry zigas. joe, i'll start with you. this sounds like something we could have used eight years ago. home prices are rising today. mortgage underrising is super strict and the risk of a downturn is small.

diana olick explains why. >> it may just be the tip of the iceberg.18.5% from the previous year. granted, 2014 was a banner year for real estate, and the real tors say it's mostly about supply. they saw the medians price of a vacation home jump last year, however, 28% to 192,000, the realtors again say an expanded pool of buyer admit a number of let to tighter sales. i spoke with james wedgeworth, a longtime real estate agent in hilton head, it says when we come to the high end, we have more supply thannen can shake a stick at here's a twist. both wedgeworth and the realtors say the nation's uncertainly political future has buyers leery of the economy and more hesitant to put money down on a discretionary purchase like a vacation home. i guess that's okay, because i don't have a vaca home. >> neither do you, but what do you do when a vacation home isn't enough? some need an entire resort, and that has rob frank looking at the lives of the super-rich. >> we went to an estate in bock a raton and of course the helipad. check it out privacy was so importa

diana olick is on that story from washington. >> eight years after the mortgage crisis hit, fannie mae are now offering principle reduction loan modifications to seriously underwater borrowers who are three months behind on their loans. their conservator said while this could be seen as too little too late or even too much, the plan is consistent with fha statutory obligation to maximize assistance for home owners. the new program would help an estimated 33,000 borrowers, a little perspective here, 34,000 completed foreclosures in february of this year. since 2008, 6.2 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. >> let's get straight to dom chu. >> what we're watching now are shares of baker hughes. the shares are moving up towards their best levels today, coming off a little bit now. headlines from dow jones, citing sources saying carlisle is in serious talks to buy perhaps a package of assets from both halliburton and baker hughes. the businesses, the report goes on to say, could be worth more than $7 billion. remember, these guys both baker hughes and halliburton, trying to buy bak

he joins us now and also with us the cnbc's diana olick and tilman fertitta. good to have you here.ing bad is coming. is it a slowdown, a correction? what's happening in new york city in real estate? >> sure. >> so i think you need to look at the investment sales market specifically related to development sites and we've had an upward trajectory for three years in a row. if you look at 2014, sales quarter one for development sites just in manhattan alone were 876 million n.quarter one, it jumped to 190 million pand in quarter 1 2006, 162 million, an 80% drop year over year so we've absolutely hit a wall because of a myriad of reasons. >> such as sns. >> new banking regulations. with the basel three regulations coming out, saying we want to put the brakes on. we think there's certain mechanisms that need to be in place for new construction loans. one, we want all banks to have more reserves in place in case of a downturn. >> on construction loans. >> on construction loans specifically. >> secondly, we want all developments projects to have 15% fresh equity into the deal, and this kin

diana olick will tell us about new york's fitting room next. there's a lot of places you never want to see "$7.95." [ beep ] but you'll be glad to see it here. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be. if only the signs were as obvious when you trade. fidelity's active trader pro can help you find smarter entry and exit points and can help protect your potential profits. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be. hey kevin. hey, fancy seeing you here. uh, i live right over there actually. you've been to my place. no, i wasn't...oh look, you dropped something. it's your resume with a 20 dollar bill taped to it. that's weird. you want to work for ge too. hahaha, what? well we're always looking for developers who are up for big world changing challenges like making planes, trains and hospitals run better. why don't you check your new watch and tell me what time i should be there. oh, i don't hire people. i'm a developer. i'm gonna need monday off. again, not my call. >>> deep fitness studios seem to pop up on every corner. makin

diana olick is here with more. product designed to guarantee your down payment on the home. >> mortgage rates dropped even lower last week thand pushand t mortgage applications up 10%, up 11%. applications to buy a home finally made a decisive move. they went up 9%. now, this, as the 30-year fix fell to the lowest level since january of 2015. that's the fwogood news, folks. the spring housing market has been plagued by high prices. home buyers are not willing to overpay, specially knowing that about 5 million borrowers are still under water on their mortgages. that is the remnants of an epic housing crash. but what if you could ensure your home equity? i'm not kidding. dallas based values ensures is betting on it. they are launching a down payment insurance program today. let's say you put $20,000 on a $200,000 home. so then you pay a one-time, up front premium of about $1200. that, of course, will depend on what the value of your home is. value insured will ensure the losses on that down payment if you have to sel