Americans watching cable news might have been cheered when they saw the latest jobs report: the United States added 303,000 new nonfarm jobs in March and unemployment fell to 3.8%. Both numbers exceeded expectations.
But viewers who are also shopping for a mortgage may have had a different reaction. Economics and housing experts say less unemployment means more pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to keep interest rates high. And the result has been an uptick in rates.
Powell has made it clear his priority is getting inflation under control. His target number for rising prices is a 2% annual rate. Instead, prices have been rising nearly twice that fast, and the inflation rate has been higher than expected…
Analysis from the Federal Housing Finance Agency finds that, while U.S. mortgage rates are not historically high, the gap between the rates existing homeowners are paying and would-be home buyers are facing has reached a point not seen in decades.
The result is a “lock-in effect” that’s keeping the housing supply extremely tight, a problem that President Joe Biden’s proposed subsidies are unlikely to fix.
The findings are in a March 2024 working paper entitled “The Lock-In Effect of Rising Mortgage Rates” by Ross M. Batzer, Jonah R. Coste, William M. Doerner, and Michael J. Seiler.
“People can be ‘locked-in’ or constrained in their ability to make appropriate financial changes,” the authors write, pointing to obstacles like “being unable to…
A new report from Zillow found that inventory is a critical factor in how hot individual markets are, with West Coast hubs feeling the biggest burns.
Home values are rising the most in expensive cities, concentrated on the West Coast. Home price appreciation is up 3.3% month-over-month in San Jose, the highest of any city.
Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles followed it, all experiencing 2% or higher appreciation from February.
“[Competition] has kept prices ticking upward in most areas, despite affordability challenges. There are places where new construction relieved some pressure, and where homeowners are less locked into their mortgage, but not in the nation’s most expensive metros. In costly areas, homeowners hold extensive mortgage debt at…
The number of renters who believe they’ll never afford a home has skyrocketed in the last year as rates rose and stock shortages lifted home prices out of their late-2023 spiral.
A recent Redfin survey found that close to 38% of renters believe they are unlikely to become homeowners, up from 27% at the same time last year.
Lack of affordability is the most cited reason for their pessimism, with almost half of respondents saying houses are simply too expensive.
Trouble saving for down payments (35%), inability to afford mortgage payments (33%) and high mortgage rates (32%) accounted for the rest. Just 14% said they don’t want to own a home.
The combination of price appreciation and near-7% rates has…
By ERIN FLYNN JAY
Home flipping activity is down across the nation as people who work in the industry see reduced returns on investments due to high interest rates and inflation.
Last month, ATTOM released its 2023 U.S. Home Flipping Report, which showed that 308,922 single-family homes and condos in the United States were flipped last year. That was down 29.3% from 436,807 in 2022 and is the largest annual drop since 2008.
The report further revealed that as the number of homes flipped by investors declined, so did flips as a portion of all home sales, from 8.6% in 2022 to 8.1% percent last year.
Rob Barber, ATTOM’s CEO, said high interest rates and inflation have elevated costs for…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Leaders at United Wholesale Mortgage are doubling down on accusations that an explosive report released last week by Hunterbrook Media is inaccurate and tied to their main competitor, Rocket Mortgage.
Authors of the report, published on April 2, claimed that $39 billion in mortgages were referred to UWM by independent brokers who sent more than 99% of their business to the lender. They estimated that borrowers paid “between hundreds of millions and billions more in closing costs than people whose brokers found them typical loans.”
“Litigators and mortgage experts say UWM’s conduct could constitute fraud and run afoul of laws passed after 2008 to protect borrowers,” the report’s introduction said.
In a social media post published Tuesday…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Leaders at United Wholesale Mortgage are lashing out after a bombshell report that was followed up with a consumer class action lawsuit filed on behalf of borrowers.
Hunterbrook Media published the report on Tuesday, which claimed that $39 billion in mortgages were referred to UWM by independent brokers who sent more than 99% of their business to the lender.
These brokers were supposed to represent homebuyers and shop around for the best deal on their behalf. Instead, they became “loyalists” to UWM, according to the report.
Hunterbrook estimated that borrowers paid “between hundreds of millions and billions more in closing costs than people whose brokers found them typical loans.”
UWM CEO Mat Ishbia‘s “All In” ultimatum helped…
By CHUCK GREEN
Luxury home prices are at an all-time high as a record share of buyers pay cash for homes in the country’s most exclusive areas.
According to a recent report by data journalist Dana Anderson at Redfin, the prices of luxury homes rose at twice the pace of non-luxury homes at the end of last year. The typical luxury home sold for $1.17 million in Q4 2023, up 8.8% year-over-year.
Like the non-luxury market, low inventory has been pushing prices up, but new listings are increasing as more homeowners jump at the chance to snag rich buyers offering cash for their purchases.
“A lot of luxury buyers are coming in with cash, snapping up expensive homes,” Heather Mahmood-Corley,…
United Wholesale Mortgage and its CEO Mat Ishbia are under fire with accusations that the company’s independent brokers aren’t independent after all.
A report from Hunterbrook Media makes the claim that at least $39 billion in mortgages were referred to UWM by brokers who refer more than 99% of their business to UWM, throwing these brokers’ relationships with the lender into question.
The claims call UWM’s basic setup into question: the idea that it works with independent brokers who shop around for the best deal for homebuyers. Instead, UWM turns its brokers into “loyalists” who choose UWM regardless of price.
Hunterbrook estimates that borrowers paid “between hundreds of millions and billions more in closing costs than people whose brokers found…
By JARED WHITLEY
Leaders at a mortgage broker caught up in litigation over United Wholesale Mortgage’s “All In” ultimatum say they never agreed to be in an exclusive relationship with Mat Ishbia’s company.
Lawyers for UWM filed suit against Atlantic Trust Mortgage Corporation in January, claiming they submitted at least 71 mortgages to rivals Rocket Mortgage or Fairway Independent Mortgage, causing about $355,000 in damages.
If Atlantic Trust wanted to work with other lenders, they argued, it needed to submit written notice that it was terminating its business with UWM. That is standard under Ishbia’s ultimatum, which has been controversial since it was introduced in March 2021 because it forces brokers to stop sending loans to Rocket and Fairway if…
