Home prices are still climbing and there's no crash in sight, which is bad news for buyers hoping for a bargain but reassuring for current owners.

• Home prices rose slightly last month and are up about 3% from a year ago, with the average home now around $440,000.
• There's no flood of homes for sale — supply has barely changed, so prices aren't going to collapse.
• Scary "foreclosures up 21%" headlines are misleading; foreclosures are a tiny fraction of what they were during the 2008 crash.
• Mortgage rates sit around 6.6% because they track government bond yields, which jumped when the Iran conflict pushed energy prices and inflation fears higher.
• The US just paused the war, so energy prices, inflation fears, and rates could ease a bit — until fighting flares up again.

Outlook: Without a big change in the war or Fed policy, mortgage rates likely stay stuck around 6-7% and home prices keep grinding higher.