With mortgage rates beginning to moderate, investors are back and snapping up the most wanted homes on the market.
Investors bought 26% of America’s lowest-priced homes in Q4 2023, according to a new report from Redfin, a record-high share and up from 24% at the same time last year.
By comparison, they bought 13.6% of mid-priced homes that sold and 15.9% of high-priced homes, both increases.
Investors are more choosey now than they have been in recent memory, looking for lower-cost homes they can rent or flip for better profits.
“I get tons of emails every day from investors looking for properties, but of course, they only want homes that are under market value, which are hard to come by.…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
This Valentine’s Day, if you are ready to get off the sidelines and into the housing market, you are likely not alone in your quest to find a place you love.
Potential buyers are coming out of the woodwork and touring homes, according to Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index, which measures requests for tours and other buying services from Redfin agents. And although that hasn’t translated into home sales yet, they expect this increase in tours to convert into an improvement in pending sales over the next few months.
Dana Anderson, a data journalist at Redfin, explained that more buyers are touring homes now because mortgage rates are holding steady at below 7% and some of these people…
Potential buyers are coming out of the woodwork and touring homes, but that activity has yet to turn into a sales surge.
Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index, which measures requests for tours and other buying services from Redfin agents, increased by 6% in the week ending January 28.
Buyers are touring homes as rates hover in the mid-6’s, an exciting moment of stability in the wake of a rollercoaster year. Some are worried that rates will swing back up– or that ongoing home price appreciation will push their dream home out of reach regardless.
But the increase in touring has yet to translate into actual home sales. Purchase applications have actually declined, and Redfin says pending sales saw a huge drop.…
Homebuyers, newly infused with extra spending power, are returning to the housing market as they come to terms with 6% rates and move to beat out increasing competition.
Redfin reported that buyers on a $3,000 monthly budget have gained almost $40,000 in purchasing power as rates have fallen from a peak in October 2023.
This theoretical buyer can afford a $453,000 home with a mortgage rate at roughly 6.7%. Just a few months ago, they could only snag a $416,000 home at a 7.8% interest rate, a $37,000 difference.
Costs are easing for buyers across the income spectrum, of course. The monthly mortgage payment on the typical U.S. home (about $363,000) is $2,545 with a 6.7% rate but clocked in…
The generational real estate showdown is still underway, and the latest battleground is large homes.
A new report from Redfin found that Baby Boomers with empty nests own 28% of the nation’s large homes, while Millennials with kids own just 14%.
This a huge turnaround in the last ten years, as a decade ago, younger adults with children were just as likely to own large homes as their parents.
Redfin defined “empty nesters” as households headed by Baby Boomers that report only 1-2 adults living in the home, and based on the number of bedrooms, with three or more being considered large.
Part of the problem is the current state of the housing market. Many Baby Boomers own their homes…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
With just weeks left before the Iowa caucus and the presidential primary in New Hampshire, home affordability is weighing on the minds of voters and at least one leading economist says the issue could take center stage as the race for the White House heats up.
Daryl Fairweather, chief economist for Redfin, has said that President Joe Biden will be forced to make home affordability a cornerstone of his reelection bid.
“Even though the overall economy is strong, high housing costs are making many Americans feel poor,” Fairweather said in her recent release on housing predictions for 2024.
“Home prices are up more than 20% since President Biden took office. That’s a problem for his re-election bid:…
This year was one of the worst on record for affordability. But with the market at an all-time low, the only move now is up, according to a new analysis by Redfin.
A homebuyer with the median U.S. income needed to spend 41% of their earnings on monthly home costs in 2023, a record high in Redfin’s data (dating to 2012) and fully 10% more than just two years ago.
In some hot markets, like California’s Anaheim and San Francisco, that number jumps to more than 80%.
But Redfin expects mortgage rates and home prices to both cool in 2024, paving the way for more Americans to buy their dream home.
“A perfect storm of inflation, high prices, soaring mortgage…
Mortgage rates slipped for a fifth consecutive week, spurring a boost in purchase activity.
Officials at Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.22%, down from the week prior’s 7.29%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.49%.
The 15-year fixed rate fell to 6.56%% from 6.67%. A year ago, it averaged 5.76%.
“Market sentiment has significantly shifted over the last month, leading to a continued decline in mortgage rates. The current trajectory of rates is an encouraging development for potential homebuyers, with purchase application activity recently rising to the same level as mid-September when rates were similar to today’s levels,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist.
Purchase applications increased by 5% last…
In a year of housing market horrors for buyers, now may be the best time to buy, according to a new analysis from Redfin.
In the last three weeks, rates have sunk from 8% to 7.4%, giving buyers breathing room after a succession of rate increases. Just last week, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped by 25 bps, the largest single-week decline since July 2022.
At the same time, though inventory remains low it is on the rise. New listings were up 1.5% YOY at the beginning of November, only the second stock increase in more than a year.
Plus, with demand slowing as rates priced more buyers out of the market, the number of sellers cutting prices is on…
Home prices surged again in the third quarter as home shoppers butted heads because of low inventory.
Annual single-family home price growth increased annually and quarterly from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Price Index.
Price growth rose 2% quarter-over-quarter and was up 5.3% YOY, showing home price appreciation remains resilient amid stock shortages. The index measures the average quarterly price change for all single-family properties in the United States, excluding condos.
“Slightly slowing house price growth may reflect in part the affordability impact of the higher mortgage rate environment – even though prices were still solidly higher this past quarter than a year earlier,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. …
