Powell was referring to the current situation in which homeowners holding historically low rate mortgages aren’t feeling incentivized to sell their homes, reducing the number of properties available in the market. A Federal Housing Finance Agency research paper published in March 2024 shows that nearly all 50 million active mortgages have fixed rates, and most [...]read moreWhen will the Fed’s moves alleviate the lock-in effect?
As expected by virtually all market participants, the Federal Reserve maintained its short-term policy interest rate between 5.25% and 5.5% at its June meeting that concluded Wednesday afternoon. That’s the seventh consecutive time policymakers with the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) kept the rates unchanged, reflecting mixed signals from the leading U.S. economic data. Job [...]read moreFed holds rates steady amid mixed economic signals
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Tuesday issued a temporary fix that will allow homebuyers using VA loans to pay for their real estate agent’s commission — i.e., the buyer-broker fee. The change, a result of the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement, was anticipated late last month and commented on [...]read moreVA issues temporary fix to allow buyer-paid broker fees
The BLS jobs report shows the honey badger labor market woke up and once again chose violence this morning. Not only did headline jobs beat estimates, but negative revisions were minor and wage growth picked up. This is obviously negative for mortgage rates, as bond yields were close to breaking a key technical level but [...]read moreWhat we should learn from the jobs week data
After last week’s jobs week, everything gets more intriguing as each month passes. The labor market has gotten softer but hasn’t broken yet. As we approach the midway point of the year, let’s examine last week’s data. 10-year yield and mortgage rates Last week, the labor data, a vital driver of the 10-year yield and [...]read moreHow much longer will we have to deal with higher mortgage rates?
New listings climbed during the past week and there are now 72,000 more single-family homes on the market. It appeared that new listings might be on the decline already, but the pace picked up a tad this week, which is encouraging. More people coming off the sidelines to sell their homes is a healthy signal [...]read moreUnsold inventory is rising across the country
The mortgage rate lockdown premise holds that very few people will list their homes when mortgage rates are this high, thus suppressing inventory. But 2024 has proven that theory wrong. 2024 has had healthy inventory growth despite mortgage rates above 7%. Also, for the third time this year, I have hit my target of weekly inventory [...]read more2024 inventory growth challenges mortgage rate lockdown
Dave Mele, president of Homes.com since 2014, has left CoStar Group to pursue “an opportunity outside of the real estate industry,” he confirmed to Real Estate News on Friday. During his tenure, Mele guided Homes.com through its acquisition by CoStar in 2021 and its emergence as a significant player in the home search market. “We [...]read moreDave Mele exits as Homes.com president
“What we are bringing forward, called closed-end second lien, assuming a FHFA approval, will provide them an alternative to the cash-out refi,“ he said. “If someone has a $300,000 mortgage and wants to get $50,000 out, they don’t have to reprice their whole first home mortgage to the rates currently at 7%.“ Mittal spoke to HousingWire on [...]read more‘Not HELOC. Not piggyback.’ Freddie Mac exec defends new product proposal amid resistance
Isaac Boltansky, managing director and director of policy research at BTIG, said on Tuesday that he does not believe “a second Biden administration is going to move quickly towards” addressing some technical issues to end the GSEs’ conservatorship. In his opinion, the Biden administration may focus on initiatives to improve affordability, which may increase demand [...]read moreWith elections ahead, housing policy analysts discuss the end of GSEs’ conservatorship