By Kerry Smith The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 2.9% from last week’s 2.98% in Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. The 15-year loan and ARM rates also declined. MCLEAN, Va. – The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 2.90% this week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. It’s a notable decline from week’s 2.98% average, but it continues a months-long pattern of rates slightly above or below 3%. “Mortgage rates decreased this week following the dip in U.S. Treasury yields,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While mortgage rates tend to follow Treasury yields closely, other factors can be impactful,
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Mortgage bankers say most (77%) homeowners in forbearance already have a payment plan in place – and many who don’t will likely sell rather than go through foreclosure. For most sellers, high home prices will allow them to pay off the mortgage and not even ding their credit scores. WASHINGTON – The national forbearance moratorium for federally backed mortgages ends on July 31. But rather than go into foreclosure, most homeowners will exit with a payment plan in place, according to most housing analysts – and a foreclosure spike big enough to significantly affect the housing market’s health is unlikely.
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Only 30% of sellers are OK with a VA or FHA loan because buyers can’t easily forego things like inspections to compete – plus the home appraisals often come in low. WASHINGTON – House hunters with conventional financing are edging out buyers using government-backed loans. A new study of real estate agents by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) found that 89% of sellers would likely accept an offer from a buyer with conventional financing, but only 30% would be willing to accept one using a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Veterans Affairs (VA) loan. In a recent Urban Institute
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An “every penny counts” approach by buyers boosted ARMs 12.5% year-to-year, even though average ARM rates (2.54%) are only a bit lower than FRM rates (2.98%). CHICAGO – Adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) dropped in popularity after the 2008 financial crisis, but they’re starting to reemerge as buyers contend with record high home prices. “The epic surge in home prices has people looking to save money on monthly payments anywhere they can,” says Matt Graham, chief of operations at Mortgage News Daily. Applications for ARMs were up 12.5% year-to-year for the week ending June 18, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
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By Erica Plemmons Florida Realtors economist: Need to find an untapped source for new clients? Look past your own turf to the largest source of movers coming from a different county or state. If 10% of your new residents come from Any County, N.Y., spend some marketing dollars in Any County. ORLANDO, Fla – Most movers tend to be from your own backyard. If your marketing efforts are already solid in your area, it may be worthwhile to expand your boundaries. Check out the proportion of movers moving from outside your county – there could be new doors to clients
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The groundwork for today’s inventory shortage was created during the 2008-2009 Great Recession. The pandemic merely made existing problems worse. NEW YORK – Today’s market problems – a shortage of affordable housing, historically tight inventory of homes for sale and rising prices – wasn’t caused by the latest pandemic-caused economic slowdown. It goes back to the Great Recession. Experts say the U.S. housing market was already being roiled by forces fueling the current housing-price explosion even before the pandemic. Matthew Murphy at New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy said supply shortages were evident heading into
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When the Fed moves to slow inflation and moderate the economy, Boston Fed Pres. Eric Rosengren thinks housing should be targeted first to avoid any “boom and bust.” BOSTON – In a recent interview, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren warned that the United States cannot afford a “boom and bust cycle” in the housing market that would threaten financial stability. “It’s very important for us to get back to our 2% inflation target, but the goal is for that to be sustainable. And for that to be sustainable, we can’t have a boom and bust cycle in
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By Hannah Morse $250K homes are out there, but finding one largely depends on where a buyer chooses to live. South Floridians have sometimes moved about 80 miles north to find lower housing prices, but each area of the state has a few areas – typically smaller towns – with a few $250K homes. NAPLES – Real estate experts across the state have witnessed the rapid rise of the mid-pandemic housing market. Some house hunters sought bigger spaces to work from home, while some existing homeowners held on for dear life, causing an inventory shortage that can hardly keep up
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Borrow money to fix up a home prior to sale? Sellers planning to buy again could hurt their credit score – but the impact isn’t huge and it takes a few months to show up. NEW YORK – Credit scores are important to qualify for a mortgage and snag the best rates. And what consumers do with their finances leading up to the application process can have a big impact on how high – or low – their credit score gets. With home prices rapidly rising over the past year, homeowners are sitting on a lot of equity, and some
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By Kerry Smith Transaction reminder: If a hurricane threatens Fla., property insurers won’t issue new policies, so lenders won’t issue new loans. But the rules vary by insurer. ORLANDO, Fla. – Hurricane Elsa is the first 2021 storm to possibly hit Florida, but it doesn’t have to make landfall to impact real estate transactions scheduled to close soon. For most property insurance companies, new policy issuance shuts down after the National Hurricane Center (NHC) issues a hurricane warning or watch. If a storm is imminent, all property insurers shut down. However, each one has internal rules on when they will/will
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