Prediction: House Prices To Hold Up Into 2024

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Buyers waiting on the sidelines for home prices to drop may be out of luck this year. During a webinar on Thursday afternoon, Mike Simonsen, founder and president of Altos Research, said that by now it has been clear enough for long enough that even the most strident of bubble-bursters recognizes that the housing market has held up well despite gloomy predictions walking into 2023. Simonsen said the results have been surprising. “Very few of us forecast what was going to happen, and forecasts are always tricky, but the key is that those of us watching the data right now, and those of us on this webinar right now, are those who have been able to pay…

Pending Home Sales Saw No Change In April

April brought no change in pending home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index remained at 78.9 in April, the same reading as in March. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001. Year-over-year, pending sales dropped by 20.3%. “Not all buying interests are being completed due to limited inventory,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Affordability challenges certainly remain and continue to hold back contract signings, but a sizeable increase in housing inventory will be critical to get more Americans moving.” Analysts differ on when inventory will be correct. ATTOM Data’s Rick Sharga told Bankrate not to expect a big inventory boost anytime soon. But Robert Johnson,…

Single Women More Likely To Own Homes Than Single Men In Nearly All States

Single women who live by themselves are most likely to own a home than single men in 48 of 50 states, according to a new analysis by LendingTree. LendingTree looked at data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that women own about 2.46 million more homes than single men. Single women own about 10.76 million homes, about 12.90% of all owner-occupied homes in America, while men own only 8.12 million, 10.06%. Louisiana has the highest share of homes owned by single women, but Florida has the largest gap in ownership rates among single men and women – 4.55% – nearly two percentage points higher than the national average of 2.84%. North Dakota and South Dakota are the…

Guild Offers New Rate Buydown Program

Guild Mortgage is rolling out a new rate buydown program, the company announced in a press release. The program, Payment Advantage, applies to any borrower locking in a conventional mortgage. Guild will then pay 1% of the borrower’s interest rate for one year. The borrower’s monthly payment will increase after that period, but they may then be eligible to refinance. The program is available until March 31, 2023. “Freddie Mac reported that the average commitment interest rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.90% in October, more than double the rate of 2.96% across all of 2021,” said Guild CEO Mary Ann McGarry. “With the rising costs of loans in today’s increasingly competitive housing market, we want to continue…

Homeowner Equity Grew In Q3 Despite Cooling Market

Even as the housing market is rapidly cooling, homeowner equity rose again in Q3, according to ATTOM Data’s Q3 2022 Home Equity & Underwater Report. The report found that 48.5% of mortgaged residential properties were considered equity-rich, up from 48.1% in Q2 and from 39.5% a year earlier. This is a slower increase than previous quarters, but still the 10th quarter of gains. “Even though home price appreciation has slowed down dramatically in recent months, homeowners have continued to build equity,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. At least half of mortgagees in twenty states are now equity-rich, compared to only seven states at the same time last year. In total, 94.3% of all mortgage…

Applications Hit Lowest Level Since 2000

Mortgage loan application volume fell 2.3% last week, reversing a two-week uptick, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows. Overall applications dipped to their lowest level since 2000. The adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased by 2.3%. The adjusted purchase index fell 1% while the unadjusted purchase index dropped 2% and was 18% lower YOY. The refinance index dropped by 5% and made up 31.2% of total applications, down 82% from the same time last year.  Refinances are at their lowest level since November 2000, pushed down by a 6% decline in conventional refinance applications. ARM activity fell to 7% of total applications. “Home purchase applications continued to be held down by rapidly drying…

What We Know About Zoomer’s Home Buying Preferences

Millennials are often touted as getting the short stick when it comes to the housing market.  Over the housing boom of the last two years, many Millennials who recently reached prime homebuying age started looking to buy their first home. But high competition and limited inventory have made this a notoriously difficult market for first-time buyers. This has been intensified by rising home prices. As of 2021, the average millennial with a mortgage owed $255,527 in mortgage debt, up 10% from the 2020 average and 16% from 2019. But while Millennials may be the largest buying cohort right now, Gen Z is right on their heels. Gen Z places much stock in the value of owning a home. Nearly 60%…

Brady: Housing Inflation Crushing American Dream

By KIMBERLEY HAAS A U.S. Congressman serving the 8th district of Texas says housing inflation is crushing the American dream for families. During a hearing, Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady said American families and workers are finding that President Joe Biden’s economy is “cruel.” “Working women haven’t had it this bad in decades. The dangerous baby formula shortage, rising crime, and inflation, and now housing they can barely afford to live in. Just as with crushing gas prices, Democrats in Washington are blaming everyone under the sun for the cruel rise in housing costs: builders, local investors and developers who make the construction of new homes and neighborhoods a reality,” Brady said. He added, “Republicans have held…

Will The Housing Market Boom Or Bust In 2022?

By KIMBERLEY HAAS As the spring selling season begins, people in the mortgage and real estate industries are speculating on whether 2022 will be a year of growth or the start of the end for a red-hot market that has favored sellers and forced up the price of housing in many parts of the country. Numbers from the start of the year look promising for growth. On Tuesday, S&P Dow Jones Indices released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. A 19.2% annual gain was reported in January, up from 18.9% in December. The 10-City Composite annual increase was 17.5%, up from 17.1% in December. The 20-City Composite posted a 19.1% year-over-year gain, up from 18.6% in the previous…

Rates Break 4% For The First Time Since 2019

Mortgage rates broke 4% for the first time since May 2019, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.16%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.09%. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage exceeded four percent for the first time since May of 2019,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.  “The Federal Reserve raising short-term rates and signaling further increases means mortgage rates should continue to rise over the course of the year. While home purchase demand has moderated, it remains competitive due to low existing inventory, suggesting high house price pressures will continue during the spring homebuying season.” The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a…