Data released today shows annual home price gains were stagnant in June but continue heating up in the short term, with month-over-month prices rising.
Year-over-year, prices remained unchanged after slipping 0.4% the prior month, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price NSA Index.
Prices were up 0.9% month-over-month before seasonal adjustment and 0.7% after. This is the fifth consecutive month of increases.
Home prices are now at all-time highs in half the cities analyzed, and the National Composite sits just 0.2% below its all-time high from last year.
Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, noted that regional differences remain “striking.”
The West Coast hubs that saw a huge migration during the pandemic performed the worst (-5.9%).…
Mortgage rates spiked again last week, contributing to housing becoming less affordable than before the bubble burst in the 2000s.
Officials at Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.23%, up from 7.09%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.55%.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also increased to 6.55% from 6.46%. A year ago, it averaged 4.85%.
“The economy continues to do better than expected and the 10-year Treasury yield has moved up, causing mortgage rates to climb,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.
Khater expects economic strength to keep rates elevated in the short term, leading to further declines in home resale.
A strong jobs report recently sent treasury yields higher, putting…
Zombie foreclosures are inching up as people who can no longer afford their homes abandon them.
The number of vacant homes in foreclosure, or zombie foreclosures, has risen for the sixth consecutive quarter, according to new data from ATTOM.
Year-over-year, zombie foreclosures are up 13.9%. Currently, 8,800 foreclosures are sitting empty across the country.
“Zombie foreclosures again are ticking up a tiny bit this quarter, tracking along with a small rise in overall foreclosure activity around the country. That’s to be expected, as a handful of homeowners who can’t catch up on overdue mortgage payments just walk away from their properties,” said Rob Barber, ATTOM CEO.
But these foreclosures remain just one in 11,600 of all homes nationwide, abating fears…
Mortgage applications tanked last week, raising concerns over the market’s future.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows the adjusted Market Composite Index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume – fell by 4.2%, supercharging after the week prior’s 0.8% decline.
The average interest rate for 30-year fixed loans rose from 7.16% to 7.31%, pushing homeownership farther out of reach for many Americans. This is the fourth straight week of increases and the highest level since December 2000.
“Applications for home purchase mortgages dropped to their lowest level since April 1995, as homebuyers withdrew from the market due to the elevated rate environment and the erosion of purchasing power. Low housing supply is also keeping home prices high in…
New home sales jumped in July as homebuilders continue to experience a boom, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sales rose by 4.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 714,000 and 31.5% from the same time last year, the highest pace since February 2022. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected an increase to just 705,000, so this month bested expectations.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale was 437,000, representing a supply of 7.3 months at the current sales rate.
The median price for a new home was $436,700, while the average sales price was $513,000.
New home sales appear to have corrected after a sharp…
High rates are making top originators nervous about the next six months.
Scotsman Guide asked mortgage pros who qualified for their Top Originator rankings how they expect their businesses to fare in the next six months. Their answers were tepid, with an eye on uncertainty.
The biggest change came from the percentage of originators who see their businesses staying exactly the same in the next six months, up from 29% in H1 2023 to 45% in H2.
A small percentage of originators think their businesses are likely to perform worse in the next six months (9% in H2 vs. 6% in H1) but less than half expect originations to pick up (down to 45% from 64%.)
Another point of note…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
Potential buyers patiently waiting for a surge in inventory before jumping into the housing market may be out of luck this fall.
Mike Simonsen, founder and president of Altos Research, said during a webinar on Thursday that there are no signs of such a thing happening anytime soon.
“There is no sign anywhere in the data of any surge in inventory,” Simonsen said. “So if you’ve got a buyer that’s like ‘I’m waiting for the big crash to come,’ the question is how long are you going to wait? Because it could come, maybe in 2025, but there’s no sign in the data right now of any of that coming.”
Simonsen has said that he expects 2023…
Mortgage rates hit their highest level in more than 20 years last week, breaking 7% on average and adding extra weight to Americans’ heavy housing burden.
Officials at Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.09%, up from 6.96%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.13%.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also increased, up to 6.46% from 6.34%. A year ago, it averaged 4.55%.
“The economy continues to do better than expected and the 10-year Treasury yield has moved up, causing mortgage rates to climb,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.
These are the highest rates since April of 2002. In October and November of last year, rates reached 7.08%.
“The last time…
As high rates keep sellers locked in their current homes, new homes are making up an increasing share of the market.
Newly built homes made up almost a third of all single-family homes on the market in Q2 2023 (31.4%), according to a new report from Redfin.
This is up 30.3% YOY and almost double the share from Q2 2019 (17%). It’s a new record for any second quarter in Redfin’s data, though not the highest share ever.
In fact, it’s down from Q1 2023’s share of 33.6%, though Redfin notes the decline follows a normal seasonal trend of new home shares peaking in the winter.
Though builders have slowed home construction, no longer producing the same inventory they did…
Mortgage applications slipped slightly last week as rates rose again.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows the adjusted Market Composite Index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume – fell by 0.8%, a much softer decline than the week prior’s 3.1% drop.
MBA attributes recent declines to rising rates. The average interest rate for 30-year fixed loans rose from 7.09% to 7.16%, pushing homeownership farther out of reach for many Americans. This is the third straight week of increases.
Adjusted purchase applications fell by 0.2%, while the unadjusted index dipped 2% from the week before and was 26% lower YOY.
Refinances continued to be hobbled by the high rate environment, down by 2% and 35% lower than the…
