Morning Roundup (1/24/25) – Existing Home Sales

Good Morning! Today is Friday, January 24. President Trump ordered the release of documents related to the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr. OpenAI introduced a new tool that can autonomously perform tasks on the internet. A third of Ireland is without power due to a major storm.

The Mortgage Note Reports

Sales Boost: Existing home sales continued rising in December, seeing a massive annual increase as buyers adjusted to the high-rate environment.

Rate Relief: Mortgage rates dipped back below 7% after spiking the week prior, cooling on better-than-expected inflation data.
Quote Of The Day
“Home sales in the final months of the year showed solid recovery despite elevated mortgage rates…Consumers clearly understand the long-term benefits of homeownership.”Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist

In other mortgage and housing news…

HUD Leadership: The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11, along party lines, to advance Scott Turner’s HUD secretary nomination. He still needs full Senate approval.

Break For Borrowers: A study found that Fannie Mae’s title insurance pilot program could save borrowers up to $2.19 billion.

Company News: GPARENCY hired David Schwed to spearhead the launch of GPARENCY’s innovative new product, Debt Snapshot.

Critical Issue: Rates have hurt the housing market, but stock shortages are the worst obstacle for would-be buyers, Zillow’s Jeremy Wacksman said.

MBA Fire Relief: The MBA Opens Doors Foundation announced a disaster relief fund for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Where People Move: Texas overtook Florida for the first time in 10 years, becoming the nation’s top state for net migration, with over 137K newcomers.