Mortgage rates edged lower to kick off the start of the spring homebuying season this week. Borrowing costs are now lower than what they were a year ago.“Mortgage rates have dipped quite dramatically since the start of the year and house prices continue to moderate, which should help on the home buyer affordability front,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The combination of improving affordability and more inventory than t
The number one obstacle facing home shoppers this spring is their own budget, according to a new study from realtor.com®. Nearly half of home buyers this spring say they’re looking for homes priced at or under $200,000—the segment of the housing market that has seen the largest year-over-year declines, according to a recent survey by realtor.com®, based on responses from about 1,000 buyers who plan to purchase a home in the next 12 months.
Existing-home sales surged last month, posting their largest month-over-month gain since December 2015, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Friday. Sales jumped 11.8 percent in February compared with the previous month, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.51 million. Three of the four major regions of the U.S. posted gains, while the Northeast remained unchanged.“A powerful combination of lower mortgage rates,
Mortgage applications set a record for the third consecutive week as lower rates drew out more refinancers and home buyers, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted application index.Total mortgage application volume rose 1.6 percent last week compared to the previous week, and applications are now 1.8 percent higher than a year ago, according to the MBA. Many of those gains have come from refinancers, but more p
The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday after its March meeting that it will leave its short-term interest rates unchanged and also signaled that it likely will not raise rates for the remainder of the year. This marks a sudden change to what had been five consecutive quarters of rate increases. Not only that, the Fed also did not rule out the possibility of a future rate cut.The Fed’s key benchmark rate is now in the range of 2.25 to 2.5 perce
Different age demographics are having a significant impact on reshaping housing. Millennials—who’ve faced delays into homeownership from student debt and high prices—are finally entering homeownership and increasingly forgoing the starter homes in favor of more expensive properties. Baby boomers, on the other hand, are showing an unwillingness to downsize in their retirement years and are holding on to larger houses well into their empty ne
A growing number of Americans believe now is a good time to purchase a home as the real estate market heads into what is traditionally its busiest season of the year. In the first quarter of 2019, 37 percent of consumers said they “strongly believe” that now is a good time to buy, up from 34 percent in the last quarter of 2018, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ latest Housing Opportunities and Market Experience Surve
How do the 50 biggest metros stack up for first-time home buyers? A new study from Bankrate.com, a personal finance website, ranked the largest metros in the U.S. based on factors such as affordability, culture, job market, and safety.Pittsburgh landed at the top of this year’s list, setting itself apart for its affordability and safety. “This study sheds a light on places that maybe most younger buyers or new families aren’t considering,
More potential home shoppers may be getting spooked by recent news headlines about the housing market, and they may be making them skittish. Sixty-two percent of surveyed home builders say “negative media reports” have made it problematic for them in attracting buyers this year, among the top concerns they identified to attract buyers, according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.Other is
Investors are still finding the single-family rental market a lucrative business. The average annual gross rental yield for a single-family home (that is, the annualized gross rent income divided by the median purchase price) was 8.8 percent in the first quarter of 2019, up from 8.7 percent a year prior, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q1 2019 Single-Family Rental Market report, analyzing 432 counties with populations of at least 100,000.“
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