“The housing market remains sluggish heading into the spring homebuying season. While mortgage rates have retreated from recent peaks, they remain elevated compared with one year ago,” Chief Economist Mark Fleming said.

A new blog post by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University examines the shrinking share of Americans that have moved over the last two years, falling back to numbers seen before the pandemic began.

This number is just above recorded lows set in January 2023.

“The relatively higher interest rate environment has depressed mortgage refinancing in particular. Interestingly, cash-out refinance hasn’t been as impacted as rate and term refinance,” according to Joe Mellman, SVP and Mortgage Business Leader at TransUnion.

“The balance of power in the rental market is tipping back in tenants’ favor as supply catches up with demand. That’s easing affordability challenges and giving renters a little wiggle room to negotiate in some areas,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr.

“Higher mortgage rates, record levels of home price appreciation, constrained housing inventories, and economic inflation are challenging for both lenders and borrowers,” said Paul Doman, President and CEO of Accurate Group.

The Spring Legal League Summit, hosted by Five Star Institute, featured two days of classes, discussions, and networking, followed by a trip to a Texas Rangers Game.

“Even with high mortgage rates and reduced credit availability, the lack of for-sale inventory continues to be the biggest hurdle to more home purchase growth this year,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s VP and Deputy Chief Economist.

"Generally speaking, home prices are lower in expensive markets and higher in affordable markets, implying greater mortgage rate sensitivity for high-priced homes," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

However, in good news for buyers, mortgage rates averaged 6.38% in April, a full 17 basis points lower than was reported in March.