President Biden used the State of the Union address Thursday to tackle the nation’s housing crisis and propose big plans to boost activity.
“I know the cost of housing is so important to you. If inflation keeps coming down, mortgage rates will come down as well. But I’m not waiting,” he said in the address.
The administration proposed a mortgage relief plan providing first-time homebuyers an annual credit of $5,000 for two years, effectively a $10,000 mortgage rate buydown that would save as much money as a 1.5% rate reduction.
Another credit, aimed at current homeowners, would offer a one-year, $10,000 credit to families who sell their starter homes, helping to turn inventory over.
More than 3.5 million middle-class buyers…
Turmoil in Congress is making headlines, but will it impact the economy – and the mortgage industry – more broadly?
The House this week voted 216 to 210 to remove Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his position as speaker. He was the first speaker to be ousted through a vote in the middle of a congressional term.
No new speaker has been appointed, though several Republicans have put themselves in the running.
“It’s uncharted territory because we’ve never done that in the history of the United States,” Matthew Green, a politics professor at Catholic University, told CBS News.
The short-term impact of this week’s turmoil has been felt immediately in the mortgage market.
Redfin Economic Research Lead Chen Zhao said that…
Low-income redevelopment zones continue to benefit from home price appreciation around the country, and some are faring better than their neighbors.
ATTOM’s Q2 2023 review of low-income Opportunity Zones targeted by Congress for economic redevelopment found that 61% of the 3,909 data zones saw price increases. In half of those, prices were up 5% or more.
Opportunity zones exist in and around low-income neighborhoods where the federal government offers tax breaks to advance economic development. Overall, these areas follow home price trends in other parts of the country.
Values declined in the last half of 2022 before recovering in 2023, a pattern that has impacted most U.S. neighborhoods. But prices in many zones rose faster than the nationwide trend both…
New data from the Census Bureau confirms that Hispanic households continue to make significant gains despite the challenges they face in the hot housing market. The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) released a statement celebrating the finding of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey. The survey found that Hispanic homeownership rates rose to 48.4% in 2021, up by 657,000 households since 2019. Of the total, a net 1,025,000 were new households, which account for 27% of household formation growth in the last two years. Additionally, Hispanics added 1,025,000 net new households, accounting for 27% of household formation growth over the last two years. However, potential Hispanic homeowners face many challenges. Latino homeowners trailed the…
Housing stakeholders gathered at the nation’s capitol to call for the budget reconciliation package being negotiated in Congress to substantially support housing. The group included National Association of Realtors (NAR) CEO Bob Goldberg, members of the National Housing Conference (NHC), Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), Habitat for Humanity, National Association of Homebuilders, and others. Representative Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, also attended. “Housing is fundamental to an economy that works for all. Democrats and President Biden understand this,” Chairman Brown said in his speech. “Robust housing investments support families and kids, improve health outcomes, and address climate change – while creating…
Economists and housing industry experts are keeping a close eye on Washington D.C.’s debate over raising the debt ceiling and what it might mean for interest rates. Congressional Democrats are heading into what even Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledges is a turbulent week or two, in which her party will attempt to use its narrow majorities to pass two massive spending bills. At the same time, Washington’s about to hit the limit of debt it can issue to keep paying its bills. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the nation will run up against the debt ceiling sometime in October. Democrats are demanding the GOP follow the tradition of previous debt-ceiling votes and support an increase. Republicans, angry over the Democrats’ decision…
