Mortgage Roundup (11/30/20) – Rates, Apps & Booms

Good morning! Today is Monday, November 30. Top health officials are asking Americans who traveled for Thanksgiving to get tested before returning to work and circulating in their communities. New York City will reopen elementary schools and reduce hybrid learning. Black Friday foot traffic plunged by half amid the pandemic while online sales rose 22 percent from a year ago. Consumers turned to Amazon and big-box chains that offer one-stop shopping.

And in mortgage and housing news …

NOT BUDGING: Mortgage rates didn’t budge this week from their record low, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

MORTGAGE APPS: Mortgage applications increased last week amid record-low interest rates and high demand for a limited number of homes on the market, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced.

MULTI-FAMILY MOMENT: A Los Angeles real estate CEO sees serious opportunity in the LA multifamily space due to pandemic movement, but investors will have to deal with cautious lenders. 

TRANSITION PICKS: People close to Biden’s transition confirmed that Brian Deese, an executive at investment giant BlackRock, is Biden’s pick for director of the National Economic Council in the White House.

OVERLOOKED MARKETS: These markets are attracting the most out-of-state real estate investors.

AIRBNB VALUATION: Airbnb is planning to target a range of around $30 billion to $33 billion when the home-rental startup kicks off its investor roadshow.  

COLD DECEMBER: Relief programs intended to provide a bridge to economic recovery will expire next month. The programs include special unemployment benefits and penalty-free pauses in mortgage and student loan payments.

PROPERTY BOOM OR BUST: A growing body of research looking at U.S. and Chinese real-estate markets suggests long property booms may be a drag on the productivity of the economy.

LONGER CLOSINGS: Mortgage lenders are overloaded, and it’s slowing down the closing process.

REFINANCE FEE: Refinancing your home is about to get more expensive. Beginning December 1, refinancing will likely cost homeowners more. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will charge a new — and hotly contested — “adverse market fee” on refinanced mortgages.

LIHTC PRESERVATION: Over the next decade, more than 387,000 housing units funded with tax credits could reach the end of their affordability requirements. Rental assistance can help keep them available for its residents.

HOMEBUYING HARDER: For myriad reasons, millennials, America’s largest generation, are becoming homeowners later in life and at lower rates than the generations of Americans that preceded them.