The housing market continues to show at least short-term signs of cooling off as several key indicators of market activity are all down in recent weeks. Mortgage applications were down both week-over-week, month-over-month and year-over-year, according to industry reports on Wednesday. Meanwhile, though housing construction exceeded expectations last month, the number of construction permits for housing was down more than five percent. Mortgage credit availability, meanwhile, fell to a six-month low last month as lenders tightened standards amid the ongoing post-COVID economic recovery. On the flip slide, earlier this week it was reported that mortgage forbearance rates are declining, indicating that those who have already taken out mortgages are having an easier time paying for them.…
A new survey of the best cities in the United States for renters places multiple metro areas in the Midwest at the top of the pack. WalletHub’s 2021 “Best & Worst Places to Rent in America” puts Sioux Falls, S.D., Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Overland Park, Kan., at the top of its list. Fargo, N.D., and Lincoln, Neb., take the next spots; it’s only at the sixth spot on the list—Columbia, Md.— that a non-midwestern state appears. Source: WalletHub The surveyors in compiling the list “compared more than 180 rental markets based on 22 key measures of rental attractiveness and quality of life.”…
The housing market recorded a mixed bag of developments this month with industry data reflecting both better-than-forecasted construction numbers but a dip in projected construction in the near future. Housing starts—the number of new homes on which construction was begun—jumped more than six percent last month, even amid still-high building material prices and the residual climate of uncertainty surrounding the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. Yet building permits for future home construction were down more than five percent, a sign of at least short-term hesitancy on the part of builders even as overall construction numbers were elevated. Fannie Mae economist Mark Palim told Reuters that industry reports “point to builders delaying or turning down orders to allow shortages to ease and to catch…
The number of mortgages in forbearance in the U.S. continues to decline, pointing to a sustained economic recovery after more than a year and a half of turmoil associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Forbearances “decreased by 26 basis points from 3.76 percent of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.50 percent,” the Mortgage Bankers Associated said on Monday as part of its weekly forbearance report. All told, the MBA estimates 1.75 million homes in mortgage forbearance this week, with MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni stating that the week’s numbers represent “the largest weekly drop in the forbearance share since last October and the 20th consecutive week of declines.” “The latest economic data regarding the…
The yearlong real estate frenzy that saw home prices skyrocketing amid a tightly constricted housing supply is showing signs of cooling off as more homes are put up for sale throughout the U.S. New listings per month have steadily increased since December, and overall active monthly listings have been on an upward trend since April, jumping significantly in June, the Wall Street Journal reports. Aspen, Colo.-based realtor Douglas Elliman told the paper that even just two months ago real estate agents were worried that they were “literally going to run out of inventory,” but the market has “shifted” since then. Home price growth has also slowed down as the summer has gone on, rising only about 13 percent in June…
US house prices continued to shoot up in the first quarter of the year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported Tuesday. Prices increased 12.6 percent from the first quarter of last year – and were 3.5 percent higher than the fourth quarter, FHFA announced in its House Price Index. The index also increased 1.4 percent in March. The index found: House prices have risen for 39 consecutive quarters, or since September 2011.House prices rose in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between the first quarters of 2020 and 2021.The top five states with the highest annual appreciation were Idaho (23.7 percent), Utah (19.2 percent), Arizona (17.4 percent), New Hampshire (16.2 percent), and Connecticut (15.9 percent).The states showing the…
Forbearance levels in the United States continued their decline in the latest report released Monday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The weekly MBA survey found: Total loans in forbearance decreased from 4.22 percent to 4.19 percent (or about 2.1 million mortgages).The share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased from 5.61 percent to 5.59 percent.The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased from 2.24 percent to 2.21 percent. “The share of loans in forbearance declined for the 12th straight week, dropping by 3 basis points. The decline was smaller than the prior week due to a slower pace of forbearance exits,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Although the overall share is…
Good morning! Today is Monday, May 24. The Army is expanding its allowed hairstyles for women. Phil Mickelson makes history as the oldest major championship winner in golf history. Billions of cicadas are appearing in the biggest emergence event since 2004. And in mortgage and housing news … EXISTING HOME SALES: Existing-home sales declined yet again, a result of the low inventory of properties for sale and rising prices keeping buyers at bay. PURCHASING POWER: Why LGBTQ+ Americans are less likely to own homes. BIDDING WAR: How to win a bidding war in a hot housing market. DEFAULT RATES: First mortgage default rates slip in April. WEALTH GAP: A new report says $1.5 trillion could be added to the economy if the racial wealth gap in housing was fixed. FORBEARANCE END: Mortgage distress…
Average 30-year mortgage rates edged up to 3.00 percent this week, Freddie Mac announced Thursday in its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The survey found: The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.00 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week, up from last week’s 2.94 percent and down from 3.24 percent last year at this time.The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.29 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week’s 2.26 percent and down from last year’s 2.70 percent.The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.59 percent with an average 0.3 point, unchanged from last week and down from last year’s 3.17 percent. “After a run up over the first few months of the year, rates have paused and…
The mortgage market was considerably stronger in April than last year at the height of the pandemic, according to the latest monthly report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage applications for new home purchases surged 30.8 percent in April from a year ago, while decreasing 9 percent from a month earlier. MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000 units in April 2021. The seasonally adjusted estimate for April is an increase of 7.8 percent from the March pace of 714,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates that there were 72,000 new home sales in April 2021, unchanged from March. By product type, conventional loans composed 72.9 percent of loan applications, FHA…
