Mortgage rates fell again this week amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, sparking uncertainty across the globe including in U.S. markets. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to a 3.76% average this week, Freddie Mac reports.“Geopolitical tensions caused U.S. Treasury yields to recede this week as investors moved to the safety of bonds, leading to a drop in mortgage rates,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While inflati
Spring may have sprung early in the housing market. The U.S. median list price set a record high of $392,000 in February, according to realtor.com®’s Monthly Housing Trends Report. Many markets continued to post double-digit annual price gains, led by Las Vegas, Miami, and Tampa, Fla., with annual increases of at least 31% each.“Over the last five years, we have seen home prices break records early in the season as buyers try to get ahead of
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reversed course this week and decreased to an average of 3.89%, Freddie Mac reports. However, with expectations of even higher inflation on the horizon, mortgage rates likely will resume their upward trek over the coming weeks, Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting at the National Association of REALTORS®, notes on the association’s blog.Despite this week’s decline, mortgage rates have
Home prices are rapidly rising, but rental prices are as well, and at a faster pace. In more than half of the nation’s largest U.S. metros, Americans likely will find buying a starter home more affordable than renting, according to a newly released report from realtor.com®.Median rental prices rose 19.8% year over year in January. That has outpaced monthly starter homeownership costs, despite a very competitive housing market, researchers say.
Homebuyers appeared in a rush to lock in mortgage rates ahead of further increases and to take advantage of any housing inventory they could find last month. Existing-home sales climbed 6.7% in January compared to the prior month, led by the strongest gains in the Southern region of the U.S., according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ latest existing-home sales report.Sales rose even as housing inventories fell to an all-time low and
Borrowing costs are climbing: The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to a 3.92% average this week, Freddie Mac reports.“Mortgage rates jumped again due to high inflation and stronger than expected consumer spending,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is nearing four percent, reaching highs we have not seen since May 2019. As rates and house prices rise, affordability has become a substantial hu
Rising home prices are prompting more borrowers to take out supersized home loans. Borrowers are taking out the largest mortgages ever on record.The average purchase loan size reached an all-time high of $453,000, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports. Loan sizes have continuously been hitting new record highs over recent weeks. Home prices are up by double-digit percentages compared to a year ago.“Prospective buyers still face elevated sale
Investors are capitalizing on sky-high single-family and condo investments in winter resort housing markets. Rising home prices and strong demand are keeping investments in these resort towns profitable.The real estate data firm ATTOM Data Solutions and ZRankings.com identified the top ski resorts based on single-family and condo sales data in 2021. Researchers found that in nearly half of the counties analyzed, home sellers more than d
Lumber prices are climbing once again, adding thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home. Builders and consumers thought relief had arrived when the price of lumber started to fall late last year, after soaring to record highs earlier in the year. But starting in December 2021, lumber prices again started to increase.Lumber prices are about triple their average pre-pandemic levels, reports Random Lengths, a lumber industry news site.That
Mortgage rates continue to rise and are nearly a full percentage point higher than a year ago. House hunters should brace themselves for rates near 4% before the end of the year, economists say. “The normalization of the economy continues as mortgage rates jumped to the highest level since the emergence of the pandemic,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Rate increases are expected to continue due to a strong labor market a
This website includes images sourced from third party websites including Adobe, Getty Images, and as otherwise noted.
