By CHUCK GREEN
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, show us a reflection of who we are.
American homebuyers are getting older. The typical first-time homebuyer is now 36, while the repeat buyer’s age climbed to 59 last year.
So what about the mortgage professionals that cater to these consumers? Are they older, industry veterans, or are they young and eager businessmen and women inspired to get into their career paths by the pandemic housing boom?
Based on information from Zippia, a career planning site, the average mortgage broker is 44 years old, and 67.5% of brokers are male.
The average mortgage originator is also 44 years old. Zippia estimates that 56.2% are men.
Beth Rosenbaum, principal of WOSG, a mortgage…
Home price appreciation is back to breaking records after a period of declines, pushing homeownership further out of reach for many Americans.
Black Knight’s Home Price Index hit an all-time high in June for both seasonally adjusted and unadjusted levels, up 0.67% from May and 0.8% YOY. This is a serious comeback after 14 straight months of annual declines.
Basically every major American metro saw month-over-month growth explode as demand continues to outstrip supply. In 30 of the country’s 50 largest markets prices have hit new highs.
“We’ve been noting for some months that the recent rate of home price gains would have a lagging, but significant, impact on the annual rate of appreciation. Well, June marked that inflection point……
As inflation slowly cools, consumers are feeling a lot more secure in their personal finances. But when it comes to homebuying, they’re still in the dumps.
Leaders at Fannie Mae said the Home Purchase Sentiment Index increased by 4 points YOY in July as consumers responded positively to the job security and mortgage rate components.
When asked to describe their feeling about the housing market, consumers became much more pessimistic, however, with 82% reporting that it’s a “bad time to buy” a home. This is a record high, up from 78% in June and above the last all-time high in October 2022.
“While consumers are reporting confidence in the components related to their personal financial situations, it’s unlikely we’ll see…
Student loan payments are set to resume this October, giving Americans yet another monthly bill to stress about, and the impact is expected to set in early.
“It’s going to quickly reverse all the progress that was made during the repayment pause, especially for those who took out new debt in mortgages or auto loans where they had the financial room because they weren’t paying their student loans,” Laura Beamer, who researches higher education finance at the Jain Family Institute, told the New York Times.
Monthly student loan bills before the pandemic came in between $200 and $299, a serious chunk of change that borrowers have not had to budget around.
A report by the Federal Reserve found that about…
Mortgage rates rose once again last week, elevated by economic news that took investors and analysts by surprise.
Officials at Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.90%, up from 6.81%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.30%.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also increased, up to 6.25% from 6.11%. A year ago, it averaged 4.26%.
“The combination of upbeat economic data and the U.S. government credit rating downgrade caused mortgage rates to rise this week,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “Despite higher rates and lower purchase demand, home prices have increased due to very low unsold inventory.”
On Tuesday, leaders at Fitch announced they had downgraded the United States of America’s…
As inflation ravages American bank accounts, monthly bills are becoming a strain on homeowners’ finances.
New data from fintech doxo shows that the average U.S. household spends 35% of their median income on essential household bills– roughly $2,046 per month, and $25,000 a year.
But the actual impact varies hugely by state. Doxo analyzed typical household bills such as auto loans, utilities, cable and internet, and alarms and security, along with a monthly mortgage payment or rent, to gauge a state’s affordability.
Hawaii, the most expensive state for household bills, sits at a markup of 50% above the national average. At the other end of the spectrum is West Virginia at -25.2% below that average.
“As consumers navigate their household…
Mortgage applications slipped again last week as rates neared 7%, with purchase apps falling to their lowest level since the beginning of June.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows the adjusted Market Composite Index – a measure of mortgage loan application volume – decreased by 3%, adding to last week’s 1.18% decline.
Adjusted purchase applications fell by 3%, while the unadjusted index dipped 3% from the week before and 26% lower YOY.
The average interest rate for 30-year fixed loans rose from 6.87% to 6.93%, pushing homeownership farther out of reach for many Americans.
“The decline in purchase activity was driven mainly by weaker conventional purchase application volume, as limited housing inventory and rates still close to 7% are…
Listings took a hit in July, but both listed and closed prices saw positive YOY growth, according to new data from HouseCanary.
The company’s latest Market Pulse report found that net new listings dwindled in July, down 40.3% YOY. The number of properties that went under contract also fell by 13.4% from the same time last year.
“In June, the housing market initially showed signs of resilience, but these reversed as we continued to face the effects of rate hikes initiated in March 2022,” said Jeremy Sicklick, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HouseCanary. “July has followed suit with stagnant performance as the Federal Reserve implemented another rate increase and potential homebuyers remained cautious amidst market uncertainties.”
New listing volume…
As high mortgage rates make homebuying increasingly unaffordable, current homeowners with rates above 5% are nearly twice as likely to sell their homes than those with lower rates.
With 90% of mortgage holders currently locked into sub-6% rates, most homeowners would need to remortgage their new home at a higher rate to buy a new house. As a result, existing-home sales are stagnating and Americans report feeling trapped by their finances.
A new analysis from Zillow found that the threshold rate for buying and selling appears to be 5%. Homeowners with rates under 5% are very unlikely to say they plan to sell their home in the next three years, while those above that mark take the opposite stance.
The…
New home sales fell in June as new construction takes heat from rising interest rates, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sales fell by 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 697,000, compared to May’s revised rate of 715,000. They were up 23.8% from the same time last year, however.
The seasonally‐adjusted estimate of new houses for sale was 432,000, up from last month and representing a supply of 7.4 months at the current sales rate.
Homebuilders are working hard to keep inventory flowing, providing options for homebuyers.
“Builders are also responding to this shift by bringing slightly smaller homes to market in an effort to meet lower price…
