Mortgage applications slipped again last week as purchase activity fell to its lowest level since 1995.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows the adjusted Market Composite Index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume – declined by 1.3%, down from the week prior’s 5.4% increase.
Adjusted purchase applications sank by 2%, while the unadjusted index fell by 2% from the week before and was 27% lower YOY.
Declines can be attributed to the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed loan increasing 12 bps to 7.53%, the highest rate since 2000. A recent boost in Treasury yields forced rates higher for the fourth straight week.
The jumbo rate also set another record, jumping 17 bps from 7.34% to…
As home prices continue to rise across the country, New England is a hot spot for year-over-year gains.
CoreLogic’s national Home Price Index increased for the 139th consecutive month in August, up 3.7% YOY, the biggest gain since February 2023. Prices are now 42% higher than in March of 2020, when the pandemic began.
Massachusetts’ top-dollar homes reflect a growing interest in the Northeast. New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island sported the largest YOY price gains in August.
Strong jobs markets and relative affordability make the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic attractive to cost-sensitive buyers, pulling them away from pricey areas that were hot in the last few years.
Not every market saw an appreciation jump. In eight states, prices fell…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
As companies work to determine what their office demands will be post-pandemic, commercial real estate experts continue to debate the impacts on the industry and the banking system.
With office vacancy rates hitting an all-time high in August, it is feared that if office buildings become obsolete, banks will be left to weather the losses. But during a webinar hosted last week by Marcus & Millichap, a California commercial real estate firm specializing in investment sales, financing, research, and advisory services, it was agreed that office commercial real estate loans make up a small percentage of total bank outstanding loans.
Jeffrey DeBoer, founding president and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable, a nonprofit public policy think tank…
Nearly 5.5 million homes are sitting vacant in the U.S.’s largest metros, but they’re not going to save the housing market.
LendingTree analyzed the latest U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data to find out what cities have the highest shares of unoccupied homes and why.
Their survey found that 5,475,687 housing units are vacant in the country’s 50 biggest metros, with a vacancy rate of 8.02% across them all.
New Orleans (16.11%), Miami (14.48%), and Tampa, FL (13.83%), have the highest vacancy rates, with 600,000 empty housing units vacant collectively.
Minneapolis, Austin, and Washington, D.C., have the fewest vacancies.
While it’s important to know the number of houses sitting empty, the reasons behind them are far more significant.
LendingTree…
Mortgage rates hit a more than two-decade high last week, exacerbating creeping financial troubles for many would-be buyers.
Officials at Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.31%, jumping from 7.19%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.70%.
The 15-year fixed-rate rose to 6.72% from 6.54%. A year ago, it averaged 5.96%
“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has hit the highest level since the year 2000,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, said.
“However, unlike the turn of the millennium, house prices today are rising alongside mortgage rates, primarily due to low inventory. These headwinds are causing both buyers and sellers to hold out for better circumstances.”
Pending home sales tanked in August, reversing…
Pending home sales tanked in August, reversing a two-month trend of increases.
NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index fell by 7.1% to a reading of 71.8 in July. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
“Mortgage rates have been rising above 7% since August, which has diminished the pool of home buyers. Some would-be home buyers are taking a pause and readjusting their expectations about the location and type of home to better fit their budgets,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “It’s clear that increased housing inventory and better interest rates are essential to revive the housing market.”
Year-over-year, pending sales dropped by 18.7%. All four U.S. regions saw declines both month-over-month and…
Mortgage applications fell last week, stepping back after a spike as rates reached 20-year highs.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows the adjusted Market Composite Index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume – declined by 1.3%, down from the week prior’s 5.4% increase.
Adjusted purchase applications sank by 2%, while the unadjusted index fell by 2% from the week before and was 27% lower YOY.
Declines can be attributed to the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed loan increasing 10 bps to 7.41%, the highest rate since December 2000.
Meanwhile, the jumbo rate hit its highest point ever in MBA’s jumbo series data at 7.34%, which dates to 2011.
“Based on the FOMC’s most recent projections,…
Data released today shows home price gains improved in July both annually and month-over-month.
Year-over-year, prices rose 1% after not moving at all the month prior, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price NSA Index.
Prices were up 0.6% month-over-month, both before and after seasonal adjustment. This is the sixth consecutive month of increases.
Home prices are now at all-time highs in half the cities analyzed, and prices rose in all 20 cities after seasonal adjustment (19 of them before adjustment, as well). The National Composite surpassed its previous record high with this data.
Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, noted that regional differences remain “striking.”
“On a year-over-year basis, the Revenge of the Rust Belt continues.…
New home sales sank in August as homebuyers faced soaring prices and rates, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sales declined by 8.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 675,000. They were up 5.8% from the same time last year, however.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale was 436,000, representing a supply of 7.8 months at the current sales rate.
The median price for a new home was $430,300, down from the month prior, while the average sales price was $514,000, up slightly.
Newly built homes cost about as much as existing homes now thanks to inventory shortages, and they’re accounting for more of the…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
As the future of traditional office spaces remains unclear, the coworking industry is seeing growth, and college students could boost this market while benefiting from the opportunity to work alongside established professionals and entrepreneurs.
According to a CoworkingCafe market study released last week, 80% of the top 100 universities in the country have at least one coworking space close to campus. Analysts found a total of 926 coworking spaces within two miles of the schools they looked at.
New York University has 220 coworking spaces around its campus, George Washington University in Washington, DC, has 74, and the University of Illinois at Chicago rounds out the top three with 66 coworking spaces within two miles.
The median…
