Pending home sales dropped for the fourth month in a row in February, down 4.1% from January and 5.4% YOY, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), which measures home sales using contract signings, fell in three of the major regions. The Northeast was the only region that saw an increase from January. All four regions saw year-over-year declines. “Pending transactions diminished in February mainly due to the low number of homes for sale. Buyer demand is still intense, but it’s as simple as ‘one cannot buy what is not for sale,'” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. The Northeast PHSI rose 1.9% to 85.0 in February, down 9.2% YOY. In the Midwest, the…
New home sales dropped by 2% in February, declining for a second consecutive month, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Purchase of new single-family homes fell to a 772,000 annualized rate, down from a revised rate of 788,000 in January and 6.2% lower than the expected rate of 823,000. These declines suggest American house hunters are taking a step back as interest rates and inflation rise. The South and West, two regions that have been quite popular with homebuyers in the last year, saw sales decline, while the less popular Northeast and Midwest saw an increase in sales. At month’s end, an estimated 407,000 new homes remained on the market,…
Investment opportunities in multifamily housing lost some steam in Q4 2021, with the Freddie Mac Multifamily Apartment Investment Market Index (AIMI) falling by 4.8% from Q3 and 2.4% year-over-year. AIMI analyzes multifamily rental income growth, property price growth, and mortgage rates to measure multifamily market investment conditions. A decline such as this indicates that attractive investment opportunities are becoming more difficult to find. The report suggests that record multifamily price appreciation and rising mortgage rates offset net operating incomes (NOI), despite “unprecedented” income growth for multifamily investors. Property prices grew by 19.6% YOY, while NOI grew by only 17.7%. “The year-over-year AIMI decline shows us that it may be more difficult now to find attractive multifamily investment opportunities in some…
Average monthly asking rent in the U.S. leaped to new heights in February, up 15% year-over-year to a record high of $1,901, though mortgage growth outpaced it yet again, according to Redfin. Rent growth saw its largest annual increase since Redfin began tracking rental data in February 2019. Mortgage payments rose 31% YOY to $1,716, also the biggest increase recorded by Redfin. Mortgage payment increases outpaced rent increases in 44 of the 50 largest U.S. metros. “The cost of housing is going up for homebuyers and renters, but it’s going up more quickly for homebuyers,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “That’s because mortgage rates have increased sharply, and will likely continue to do so. When the cost of homeownership…
Single-family rents rose by 12.6% YOY in January to another record high, with Miami leading U.S. cities in rent growth. CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) found that rent growth exploded in January. The increase is especially shocking compared to January 2021’s mere 3.9% annual increase. “Single-family rent growth extended its record-breaking price growth streak to 10 consecutive months in January,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “Rents increased across the country, and the gains were highest in the Sun Belt, which also had strong population growth last year.” All metro areas analyzed by CoreLogic saw annual growth, with Sun Belt cities leading the pack. Miami once again had the highest YOY growth at 38.6%. In January 2021, Miami rents…
Demand for vacation homes has cooled down after skyrocketing to near-record levels in January, Redfin reported. February saw second home demand reach its lowest level since May 2020 as mortgage rates continued climbing, only 35% above pre-pandemic levels. Rates declined for a few weeks due to uncertainty surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but started inching up again last week, reaching 3.85%. While demand is still significantly elevated from two years ago, it’s nothing compared to January’s 87% increase. February was also the first month where primary residence demand beat out vacation home demand since the pandemic began, though only by 1%. “Rising mortgage rates, combined with rising home prices, are hitting the second-home market much harder than the primary-home market,”…
Good Morning! Today is Wednesday, March 9. Major U.S. businesses pulled out of Russia and President Biden banned Russian oil imports. Intelligence officials said Vladimir Putin showed no signs of changing course. A jury found Guy Reffitt, the first Jan. 6 defendant to go on trial, guilty of leading a mob against the police. The Mortgage Note Reports $1M Or More: A record 8.2% of U.S. homes (6 million) were valued at $1 million or more in February, with California leading the pack in share. Rate Slide Pushes Refis Up: Refinances bounced up last week due to a brief drop in interest rates, while overall mortgage loan application volume rose 8.5%. And in other mortgage and housing news… Above Asking:…
U.S. home prices have broken another record: 8% of homes (6 million) are now worth $1 million or more, according to a new report from Redfin. That is nearly double the share from before the pandemic when the share was only 4.8% (3.5 million). The Bay Area has the biggest share of million-dollar homes, with nearly nine out of 10 properties in San Francisco and San Jose making the list. This isn’t surprising given its long history of being the most expensive place to buy a home in the U.S. Anaheim, CA, saw the biggest increase, with its share of million-dollar homes jumping to 55% from 27% two years ago. California dominated the top five, following up with Oakland (55.1%),…
More consumers than ever think mortgage rates and home prices will continue to rise, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI). The HPSI rose by 3.5 points to 75.3 in February, with five of the index’s six components increasing month-over-month despite respondents’ surly attitude towards home prices and interest rates. However, the full index dropped 1.2 points year-over-year (YOY). The “Good Time to Buy” component is still hovering near its record low, with consumers saying they are deterred from homebuying by high prices. Respondents to the survey said they feel an improved sense of job security, but a significantly greater share– 67%, a record high for the HPSI– assume mortgage rates will rise higher. The report notes this…
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…
