May 23, 2024
Spring homebuyers received an unexpected windfall this week, as mortgage rates fell below the seven percent threshold for the first time in over a month. Although this week’s data on previously owned home sales showed a decline, total inventory of both new and existing homes is up. Greater supply coupled with the recent downward trend in rates is an encouraging sign for the housing market.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.

May 16, 2024
Mortgage rates decreased for the second consecutive week. Given the news that inflation eased slightly, the 10-year Treasury yield dipped, leading to lower mortgage rates. The decrease in rates, albeit small, may provide a bit more wiggle room in the budgets of prospective homebuyers.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.

May 9, 2024
After a five week climb, mortgage rates ticked down following a weaker than expected jobs report. An environment where rates continue to hover above seven percent impacts both sellers and buyers. Many potential sellers remain hesitant to list their home and part with lower mortgage rates from years prior, adversely impacting supply and keeping house prices elevated. These elevated house prices add to the overall affordability challenges that potential buyers face in this high-rate environment.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.

May 2, 2024
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased for the fifth consecutive week as we enter the heart of Spring Homebuying Season. On average, more than one-third of home sales for the entire year occur between March and June. With two months left of this historically busy period, potential homebuyers will likely not see relief from rising rates anytime soon. However, many seem to have acclimated to these higher rates, as demonstrated by the recently released pending home sales data coming in at the highest level in a year.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.

April 25, 2024
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.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.

April 18, 2024
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage surpassed 7 percent for the first time this year, jumping from 6.88 percent to 7.10 percent this week. As rates trend higher, potential homebuyers are deciding whether to buy before rates rise even more or hold off in hopes of decreases later in the year. Last week, purchase applications rose modestly, but it remains unclear how many homebuyers can withstand increasing rates in the future.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.

April 11, 2024
Mortgage rates have been drifting higher for most of the year due to sustained inflation and the reevaluation of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path. While newly released inflation data from March continues to show a trend of very little movement, the financial market’s reaction paints a far different economic picture. Since inflation decelerated from 9% to 3% between June 2022 and June 2023, the annual growth rate of inflation has remained effectively flat, ranging from 3.1% to 3.7% and averaging 3.3%. The March estimate of 3.5% annual growth is in the middle of that range. However, the market’s reaction was dramatically different, as illustrated by a significant drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average post-announcement.

It’s clear that while the trend in inflation data has been close to flat for nearly a year, the narrative is much less clear and resembles the unrealized expectations of a recession from a year ago.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.

April 4, 2024
Mortgage rates showed little movement again this week, hovering around 6.8 percent. Since the start of 2024, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has not reached seven percent but has not dropped below 6.6 percent either. While incoming economic signals indicate lower rates of inflation, we do not expect rates will decrease meaningfully in the near-term. On the plus side, inventory is improving somewhat, which should help temper home price growth.

Information provided by Freddie Mac.