Low mortgage rates and strong job growth are giving the housing market one of its best years in decades—even as overall economic growth has weakened—according to Freddie Mac’s monthly Outlook report for May. The report’s optimism is a change from the mortgage giant’s previous predictions, when economists said the housing market likely would not perform as well as it did in 2016.New-home sales in March were better than expected, and exis
Mortgage rates dipped to their lowest averages of the year this week, Freddie Mac repots. “As we predicted, the 30-year mortgage rate fell 7 basis points this week in a delayed reaction to last week’s sharp drop in Treasury yields,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The survey rate stands at 3.95 percent today, a new low for the year.”Freddie Mac reported the following national averages with mortgage rates for the we
Homes with solar panels tend to sell for higher prices than comparable homes with conventional energy, studies show. One study, released two years ago by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, found that solar homes sell for a 15 percent premium. But selling these homes can require extra preparation on the part of real estate agents.The biggest issue is how the panels were financed. If the owner simply bought the panels, there shouldn’t be any
Fannie Mae is cracking down on selling foreclosed homes to firms that it says engage in abusive forms of seller financing, which could include rent-to-own leases or longer term installment contracts known as contract for deed, The New York Times reports.In its first action on the new policy, Fannie Mae said it would no longer sell properties to Vision Property Management, which operates in more than a dozen states and is one of the largest firms
One week after facing a class-action lawsuit over its home-price tool, Zillow is looking to improve it with a contest. The real estate website is offering a $1 million award to the “person or team” who can improve its Zestimate, an online tool meant to help people estimate the value of their property. Zillow officials say the contest has been in the works for more than a year and was not motivated by the lawsuit.Last week, Zillow faced a clas
Buying a home can be stressful on couples. Sixty-percent of millennial and Gen X couples say they disagreed occasionally, frequently, or “a lot” when buying a house with their partner or spouse, according to a new survey released by LendingHome. They surveyed 514 adults ages 25 to 45 who were in a relationship (engaged, married, or domestic partnerships) and purchasing a home within the past year.Couples who have been together a longer time t
Sales of newly built single-family homes plunged 11.4 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 569,000 units, the first time such sales have decreased this year, the Commerce Department reported this week. Still, builders are writing off the dip as a minor setback, instead focusing on the bigger picture."Despite some slowness this month, total new-home sales in 2017 are up more than 11 percent from this time last year, and builder
Trading up from a starter home to a larger home has proven to be increasingly difficult for a growing group of homeowners across the country. Sure, owners may be able to snag a record-high price for their current home, but high prices and the low inventory are making it tough for them to buy something better in a tight market, realtor.com® notes.“In today’s competitive landscape, moving up from [starter homes] to the white picket fence has b
For the fifth consecutive week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained around 4 percent."The 30-year mortgage rate fell 3 basis points this week to 4.02 percent,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “However, this week's survey closed prior to Wednesday's flight to quality. The delayed impact of the associated decline in Treasury yields may push mortgage rates lower in next week's survey."Freddie Mac reports the following
Mortgage refinance activity may have been the true hidden culprit behind the housing crisis, according to a new report by the Urban Institute written by Laurie Goodman, codirector of UI’s Housing Finance Policy Center.Mortgage refinances were more likely to default than mortgages taken out to purchase a home “mostly because many people were treating their homes as ATMs through cash-out refinances,” Goodman notes.Eighty-four percent of gover
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