The world’s affluent population– people worth $5 million or more– grew 19.8% in 2021, and with it grew the luxury housing market, according to Coldwell Banker Global Luxury’s 2022 Global Luxury Market Insights report, titled “The Report.” There are now 3,612,730 affluent individuals worldwide, with a combined wealth of over $75 trillion. Wealth growth in the U.S. rose 24.8% in both population and wealth in 2021, up from 8.1% in 2020. At the same time, luxury single-family home sales– the top 10% of any given market– increased 14.5%, with prices jumping 20.3% from 2020. Attached luxury homes saw a 29.6% increase YOY and a 16.6% increase in prices. “Double-digit wealth and affluent population gains have happened concurrently with a once-in-a-generation…
By SCOTT KIMBLER Across the country, especially in urban metropolitan areas, it’s becoming as difficult to find a rental property as it is to buy a home. “It’s just going to keep happening,” said economist Roy Black of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. “It is the perfect storm: Supply chain issues, inflation, gas prices going up. It is everything happening from different angles. The middle class, even the upper middle class, is being squeezed. Prices are squeezing the people whose salaries are not increasing at the pace of the cost of living. About the only thing people can do is bargain-hunt until they find something or move farther and farther out where the rents are cheaper.” Elizbeth Rose with Mortgage…
Broker confidence fell for the second straight month in February, though brokers are “cautiously optimistic” about the future, according to RISMedia’s February Broker Confidence Index (BCI). The index, which is scaled 1 to 10, fell to 7.5 from January’s 7.9 and December 2021’s 8.2. For the 3,000 brokers surveyed, rising interest rates were not a big cause for concern. They felt that rising rates won’t hurt demand considering current market conditions. Brokers’ biggest worries were inflation and inventory, with a nod to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. “The continued lack of supply has really created a bubble,” Quincy Smith, a broker with ERA Matt Fischer in Yuma, Arizona, told RISMedia. “With the equity market starting what appears to be a…
Home prices grew by 19.1% annually in January 2022 and were up 1.4% from December 2021, according to CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast. The index found that annual appreciation of detached properties was 20.3%, 5.1 percentage points higher than that of attached properties, which saw a 15.2% increase. Naples and Punta Gorda, Florida, had the highest YOY home price growth for the second month straight, at 38.9% and 38.3%, respectively. The Mountain West and Southern regions dominated price growth nationally. Arizona took the number one spot with gains of 28.3%, followed by Florida (27.9%), and Utah (25.2%). But CoreLogic predicts that appreciation will slow to 3.8% annually by January 2023. “In December and January, for-sale inventory continued…
Pending home sales continued a three-month streak of declines in January, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) found contract signings fell 5.7% to 109.5 in January, down 9.5% year-over-year (YOY). Only the West saw any increases, with contract signings rising 1.5% from December to January, but down 9.7% from a year earlier. The Northeast saw the largest annual drop in contract signings, 16.7%, plus a 12.1% drop in the month-to-month numbers, down to 84.3. The Midwest saw a 5.9% drop both monthly and annually, while signings in the South fell 6.3% from December and 8.7% YOY. “With inventory at an all-time low, buyers are still having a difficult time finding a home,” said…
United Wholesale Mortgage is no stranger to controversy. Both the company and its chief executive Mat Ishbia have made headlines over the years on issues ranging from the firm’s treatment of its employees to its notoriously aggressive attempts to stifle competition.
In fact, the company is currently engaged in legal battles on multiple fronts. It’s facing a class-action lawsuit over allegedly forcing employees to work overtime without compensation, and legal challenges to its attempts to force mortgage brokers to stop doing business with major competitors like Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage.
Now Ishbia appears to be teaming up with one of the most controversial figures in his corporate past: Disgraced mortgage executive Anthony Casa.
In late 2020, Casa was …
Mortgage rates took a surprise turn down last week, averaging 3.89% after weeks of rising, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.89%, down from 3.92%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.97%. “Even with this week’s decline, mortgage rates have increased more than a full percent over the last six months,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “Overall economic growth remains strong, but rising inflation is already impacting consumer sentiment, which has markedly declined in recent months. As we enter the spring homebuying season with higher mortgage rates and continued low inventory, we expect home price growth to remain firm before cooling off…
Bidding wars hit their highest level since at least April 2020, with 70% of home offers from Redfin agents facing competition in January, a new Redfin report found. This is up from 67.7% in December and 61% in January 2021. The report chalks up the increased bidding to a combination of rising interest rates, high demand, and low inventory. January marked the first time rates hit 3.5% since the beginning of the pandemic, and have jumped to nearly 4% in the first weeks of February. New listings continue dropping, hitting record lows. “Rising mortgage rates are intensifying an already-severe shortage of homes for sale because buyers are feeling more urgency to buy while homeowners are feeling less urgency to sell—an…
Mortgage loan application volume fell 13.1% last week, continuing last week’s trend down, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey shows. The adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, dropped 13.1%. The adjusted purchase index fell 10%, while the unadjusted purchase index fell 6% and was 6% lower YOY. The refinance index fell 16% and was down 56% YOY. Refinances made up 50.1% of total applications. “Mortgage applications dropped to their lowest level since December 2019 last week, as mortgage rates continued to inch higher. The 30-year fixed rate was 4.06%, almost a full percentage point higher than a year ago. Higher mortgage rates have quickly shut off refinances, with activity down in six of the…
Home prices rose 17.5% year-over-year in Q4 2021 and 3.3% from Q3 2021, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index (FHFA HPI). Home prices were up 1.2% from November to December. Home prices increased in every state between Q4 2020 and Q4 2021, with the highest appreciation in Arizona (27.4%), Utah (27.1%), Idaho (27%), Florida (25.6%), and Tennessee (24.1%). Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL, saw the greatest annual price increases. The metros with the least annual appreciation were Washington, D.C. (6.6%), Louisiana (10.2%), North Dakota (10.3%), Maryland (10.8%), and Alaska (11.3%). “House prices continued to climb but not as rapidly during the final quarter of 2021 as in earlier quarters,” said William Doerner, Ph.D., Supervisory Economist in FHFA’s…
