Freddie Mac Mortgage rates continued rising this week. Despite rates increasing more than half a percent since the first week of the year, purchase demand remains steady. With rates staying higher for longer, many homebuyers are adjusting, as evidenced by this week’s report that sales of newly built homes saw the biggest increase since December 2022. View Data and Interactive Chart The post Mortgage Rates Continue to Increase appeared first on Santa Fe Beautiful Homes | Sotheby's Santa Fe, New Mexico ..read more

National Association of Realtors NAR forecasts 4.46 million existing-home sales in 2024, a 9% increase from 2023. Key Highlights Pending home sales increased 3.4% in March. Month over month, contract signings rose in the Northeast, South and West but dropped in the Midwest. Compared to one year ago, pending home sales declined in the Northeast and South while the Midwest and West improved. Pending home sales in March climbed 3.4%, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The Northeast, South and West posted monthly gains in transactions while the Midwest recorded a loss. Year-ove ..read more

KCM According to recent data from Fannie Mae, almost 1 in 4 people still think home prices are going to come down. If you’re one of the people worried about that, here’s what you need to know. A lot of that fear is probably coming from what you’re hearing in the media or reading online. But here’s the thing to remember. Negative news sells. That means, you may not be getting the full picture. You may only be getting the clickbait version. As Jay Thompson, a Real Estate Industry Consultant, explains: “Housing market headlines are everywhere. Many are quite sensational, endi ..read more

Median New Home Price is Down 13% from the Peak CALCULATEDRISK By Bill McBride The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 693 thousand. The previous three months were revised down, combined. March 2024 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 693,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 8.8 percent above the revised February rate of 637,000 and is 8.3 percent above the March 2023 estimate of 640,000. emphasis added The ..read more

HousingWire Inventory grew with rates over 7.25% By Logan Mohtashami Housing inventory finally hit my target level of growth last week with mortgage rates now over 7.25%, something I couldn’t get all last year. Of course, what is different this year versus last year is that new listing data is growing yearly instead of trending at the lowest levels recorded in history. Weekly housing inventory data Higher mortgage rates with duration will likely lead to higher inventory, which we have seen repeatedly for the past 10 years. However, 2023 tested my model as the inventory grow ..read more

KCM Over the past year or so, a lot of people have been talking about how tough it is to buy a home. And while there’s no arguing affordability is still tight, there are signs it’s starting to get a bit better and may improve even more throughout the year. Elijah de la Campa, Senior Economist at Redfin, says: “We’re slowly climbing our way out of an affordability hole, but we have a long way to go. Rates have come down from their peak and are expected to fall again by the end of the year, which should make homebuying a little more affordable and incentivize buyers to come ..read more

HousingWire Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued guidance on Monday, echoing sentiments already shared by FHA Commissioner Julia Gordon Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not count buyer’s broker’s commissions as part of their allowable interested party contributions (IPCs), according to announcements from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) on Monday. The GSEs noted that this guidance was not an update to their selling guides but a clarification on the treatment of seller-paid real estate agent fees. Based on the selling guides in use by the GSEs, property sellers a ..read more

HousingWire Since November of 2022, it’s been about supply and demand By Logan Mohtashami Existing home sales fell in March, which isn’t surprising, but one headline that shocked some people was that home prices are still up year over year, even with higher inventory and higher mortgage rates. From NAR: The median existing home price for all housing types in March was $393,500, an increase of 4.8% from the previous year ($375,300). All four U.S. regions registered price gains. How are home prices still rising this year? Supply being near all-time lows is one thing, but existing ..read more

Inman News With a recent boost to inventory and steady demand for high-end properties, luxury homeowners are cashing out existing homes and using cash power to buy a new one, fueling price growth Price growth of luxury homes in the U.S. skyrocketed past non-luxury properties during the first quarter of 2024 as luxury buyers remained undeterred by elevated mortgage rates, according to a new Redfin analysis. The news comes as buying a home in the U.S. has never been more expensive, with homebuyers’ median monthly housing payments hitting a record of $2,775, Redfin reported in ..read more

HousingWire As supply has increased, we can also see a softening in future price signals By Mike Simonsen We saw a big jump in mortgage rates last week. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage, according to the HousingWire Mortgage Rates Center, is now over 7.2% — that’s 50 basis points above where we were at the start of the year. At that time, most of the voices in the media assumed that mortgage rates had peaked and would fall by now. But the U.S. economy continues to be powerfully strong and with each new economic data release, it seems less likely that we’ll see the Federal Reserve ..read more