Home buyers and sellers are taking a more optimistic view of the housing market. The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index increased 9 points in June to 76.5, driven by more optimistic views of homebuying and selling conditions, as well as positive views about the potential for home price appreciation. For the year, the index remains down 15 points amid the coronavirus pandemic. “A second month of improvement in June allowed the HPSI to regain some of the sharp losses in optimism observed in March and April,” said Doug Duncan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae. “The share of renters who say it’s a good time to buy a home is now at its highest level in…
After cratering in April and May, new listings for high-end homes are making a comeback on the market this summer. Listings for the most expensive homes dropped by about 50 percent at the height of the pandemic – but are now down just 9 percent from year, according to a new report released Wednesday by Zillow. Listings for least expensive homes – which had dropped by about one-third this spring – remain 29 percent below last year’s level. “The way unemployment has hit in this recession – with more layoffs in service, retail, food, entertainment, and other jobs unable to be done remotely – could result in vastly different experiences on either end of the housing price spectrum,” Zillow economist…
As interest rates sit at record lows, mortgage applications increased slightly last week, according to a report released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey found that applications increased 2.2 percent for the week ending July 3. The Purchase Index was up 5 percent (on an adjusted basis) from the week before and 33 percent higher than a year ago. “Mortgage rates declined to another record low as renewed fears of a coronavirus resurgence offset the impacts from a week of mostly positive economic data, such as June factory orders and payroll employment,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. The Refinance Index was up 0.4 percent from the previous…
The share of mortgages in forbearance dropped slightly for the third straight week, with 4.2 million homeowners in the United States now pausing making payments on their home loans. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey released Tuesday found that the share of loans in forbearance the week ending June 28 dropped to 8.39 percent from 8.49 percent. “We learned last week that the job market improved more than expected in June. With that as background, it is not surprising that the forbearance numbers continue to improve as more people go back to their jobs,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “The improvement in the forbearance data was broad-based, with declines for both GSE and Ginnie Mae…
Black and Hispanic borrowers were denied approval for mortgages at a considerably higher rate than non-Hispanic White and Asian borrowers in 2019, according to a report released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The report found that 16 percent of would-be Black and 10.8 percent of Hispanic borrowers were denied for conventional home-purchase loans last year, compared to 8.6 percent of Asian and 6.1 percent of white borrowers. “When people of color are stuck in this cycle of renting, their children often meet the same fate, missing out on thousands of dollars worth of home equity,” said Brittani Walker, a Redfin agent in Chicago. “If your parents never owned a home, where do you learn the value of homeownership?” A…
With the potential for remote working to become more the norm, the pandemic has Americans considering packing up and move to a new city or state. A survey conducted by Morning Consult found that more than one in four workers say they would consider moving to a new state if their employer allows them to work remotely going forward. The survey found: 12 percent said it is very likely they would move to a new state.16 percent said it is somewhat likely.36 percent said it is very unlikely.17 percent said it is somewhat unlikely.19 percent said they didn’t know or don’t have an opinion. This is a phenomenon some are noticing and others are openly musing about: I live in…
Mortgage rates just hit another record low. Freddie Mac announced that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.07 percent for the week ending Thursday, the lowest rate in the surveys history dating back nearly 50 years. “Mortgage rates continue to slowly drift downward with a distinct possibility that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage could dip below 3 percent later this year,” Freddie’s Chief Economist Sam Khater said. “On the economic front, incoming data suggest the rebound in economic activity has paused in the last couple of weeks with modest declines in consumer spending and a pullback in purchase activity.” The survey found: The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.07 percent with an average 0.8 point, down from 3.13 percent and last years…
A new survey from Redfin points to demographic differences in the housing market as furthering the divide between the “haves” and the “have nots.” The study , which the real estate brokerage said highlights the “wealth divide” in the United States, looked at unemployment rates, demographic housing sales data, and racial breakdowns among industries hit hard by the economic shutdown versus those that appear to have weathered the storm. “The housing market has mostly been driven by white households with higher incomes—households less likely to have been severely affected economically by the coronavirus shutdowns,” Redfin said, adding that this exacerbates inequality trends in the housing market over the past decade. “The great injustice of this recession is that it is…
Mortgage applications for home purchases and refinances dipped slightly last week, according to a report released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Total applications decreased 1.8 percent for the week ending June 26, the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey found. The Refinance Index decreased 2 percent from the previous week, though remained 74 percent higher than a year ago. The Purchase Index dropped 2 percent for the week but was 15 percent higher than the same week a year ago. “After two months of strong growth, purchase applications declined for the second week in a row,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “The weakening in activity is potentially a signal that pent-up demand is starting…
Total commercial and multifamily mortgage debt increased by $61 billion to $3.72 trillion in the first quarter of the year, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The latest Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Debt Outstanding quarterly report showed that multifamily mortgage debt increased by $28 billion to $1.6 trillion from the fourth quarter of 2019. “The rise in commercial and multifamily mortgage debt in the first three months of the year carried forward the strong level of activity during 2019. Rising property values, strong incomes and low interest rates supported increased borrowing and lending,” said Jamie Woodwell, MBA’s Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research. “With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, borrowing and lending has slowed,…
