Daily Dose

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) product was 3.93 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending December 11, Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The average 30-year fixed rate was 3.89 percent a week ago and 4.42 percent this time last year.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) monthly survey of loan application volumes at home builders shows new home purchase activity was down 22 percent month-over-month in November, the group said Thursday. Looking at all indicators, MBA estimates new single-family home sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 401,000 units last month, a 13 percent drop from the association's October estimate.

Statewide, sales of single-family homes increased 7.0 percent annually in October to a total of 2,379, the Warren Group reported this week. It was the best October sales figure since 2007, when transactions totaled 2,605. The year-to-date sales total came closer to catching up to last year, coming to 21,546—a decline of less than 1 percent.

Asking prices on for-sale homes jumped 1.5 percent month-over-month in November, outpacing a pre-revised increase of 1.0 percent in October, according to property data firm Trulia. Examining local market data, Trulia found increases were largely split along age lines, with asking prices rising faster in metros predominantly populated by Gen X, baby boomers, and senior Americans compared to those occupied by more millennials.

In a testimony before the Senate Banking Committee's subcommittee on housing, Mabel Guzman, 2014 chair of the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) Conventional Finance and Lending Committee, highlighted some of the biggest challenges constraining homeownership.

Cash sales accounted for 34.8 percent of total home sales, CoreLogic reported, down from 37.2 percent in September 2013. The share of cash sales has fallen annually every month since January 2013. Before the start of the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total homes averaged nearly 25 percent.

Quicken Loans' Home Price Perception Index, a measure of the gap between appraiser and homeowner opinions of home values, shows appraisers' home value estimates were on average 1.56 percent higher than homeowners nationally.

Total mortgage application volumes increased 7.3 percent for the week ending December 5, according to survey data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The jump, which includes seasonal adjustments, followed a drop of the same amount the week prior.

Sales of single-family homes in Rhode Island increased by 3.2 percent in October from the previous year, the fifth time in 2014 single-family home sales have increased year-over-year in the state, according to a report released Monday by the Warren Group.

Looking at trends in incomes, home values, and rental prices in the third quarter, Zillow estimates that U.S. homeowners spend on average 15.3 percent of their income on monthly mortgage payments. For younger homebuyers, who typically make smaller down payments, that figure is only slightly higher: 17.4 percent.