On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will hold its monthly meeting—and in anticipation mortgage rates for both 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate loans, as well as 5/1 ARMS, dropped. While market watchers do not anticipate policy changes to come out of this month’s meeting, in light of last month’s interest rate hike it seems as if that is not enough to ebb the pre-meeting caution the market is experiencing. Though interest rates may not rise this month, the Fed has forecasted four hikes this year.
Read More »Seller Confidence Gets a Boost
A solid March selling season has left sellers feeling pretty confident. A new report by Redfin finds sellers increasingly see themselves with more leverage in a sale. But not everyone thinks the tactics sellers are using are the smartest ones.
Read More »Most Renters Can Buy Without Monthly Increase
The average American renter can now purchase a home more expensive than the nation’s median home value, while keeping their monthly housing budget the same. This was true in 37 out of 50 markets analyzed. The current national median rent is $1,416 per month—just enough to handle the monthly costs of a property valued at $289,505, including property taxes, maintenance, and insurance payments.
Read More »Application Defect Rate Up Amidst Seller’s Market
The rate of defects and fraud in mortgage applications is up. The Defect Index on purchase applications rose 2.4 percent over the month, and for refinance applications, it jumped 3.3 percent. Defects were worse in the Southern part of the U.S.
Read More »Interest Rates Fall in March
According to the Federal Housing Administration on Thursday, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages decreased nationally from February to March. As interest rates dropped, prices have been on the rise, as shown in the FHFA’s last House Price Index for February, which released on Tuesday. House prices rose an average of 6.4 percent that month year-over -year, and up 0.6 percent month-over-month.
Read More »Tight Inventory Disrupts Pending Sales
Tight inventory and stiff competition for homes proved disruptive to pending sales in March, according to a new report by the National Association of Realtors. Pending sales activity dropped by nearly a percent since February. But overall activity is still soaring, and in most markets is up from where it was a year ago. Which might or might not be a good thing.
Read More »Luxury Homes Prices Up; D.C. Sales Spike
Luxury home prices are up more than 4 percent over the year, with Washington, D.C., seeing the biggest spike in price. According to one economist, potential tax cuts for the wealthy may be the cause. Other cities to see high year-over-year luxury home price growth were St. Petersburg, Florida; Portland, Oregon; Paradise, Nevada; West Palm Beach, Florida; and San Francisco.
Read More »Seller ROI Hits Highest Point Since 2007
Home seller ROI has hit an all-time high as of Q1 2017. The average seller now makes a 24 percent return on their original purchase investment, amounting to about $44,000 per sale. This is the highest point for seller ROI since 2007.
Read More »Flagstar Sees Q1 Revenue Bump
Flagstar Bank is seeing growth across its mortgage service lines, according to the Q1 2017 earnings report released by the bank on Wednesday. Flagstar’s commercial real estate loans jumped 11 percent from Q1 2016 and 58 from Q4 2016. The bank’s mortgage revenues are also up, rising 19 percent for the quarter.
Read More »Housing Prices Up 6 Percent Over 2016
Home prices are up yet again, both over the month and over the year. The latest House Price Index shows a more than 6 percent uptick over 2016's prices and nearly a full percent jump since January of this year. The most annual growth was seen in the Mountain region.
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