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The average for a 30-year fixed-mortgage is 7.34% today, up 0.02% over the last week. The average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage is 6.74%, which is a decrease of -0.02% from the same time last week. For a look at mortgage rate movement, see the chart below.
Because inflation data hasn’t been improving, the Federal Reserve has been pushing off rate cuts. Though mortgage rates could still inch down later in the year, housing market predictions change regularly in response to economic data, geopolitical events and more.
Mortgage rates change every day. Experts recommend shopping around to make sure you’re getting the lowest rate. By entering your information below, you can get a custom quote from one of CNET’s partner lenders.
About these rates: Like CNET, Bankrate is owned by Red Ventures. This tool features partner rates from lenders that you can use when comparing multiple mortgage rates.
Each mortgage has a loan term, or payment schedule. The most common mortgage terms are 15 and 30 years, although 10-, 20- and 40-year mortgages also exist. With a fixed-rate mortgage, the interest rate is set for the duration of the loan, offering stability. With an adjustable-rate mortgage, the interest rate is only fixed for a certain amount of time (commonly five, seven or 10 years), after which the rate adjusts annually based on the market. Fixed-rate mortgages are a better option if you plan to live in a home in the long term, but adjustable-rate mortgages may offer lower interest rates upfront.
The 30-year fixed-mortgage rate average is 7.34% today. A 30-year fixed mortgage is the most common loan term. It will often have a higher interest rate than a 15-year mortgage, but you’ll have a lower monthly payment.
Today, the average rate for a 15-year, fixed mortgage is 6.74%. Though you’ll have a bigger monthly payment than a 30-year fixed mortgage, a 15-year loan usually comes with a lower interest rate, allowing you to pay less interest in the long run and pay off your mortgage sooner.
A 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage has an average rate of 6.74% today. You’ll typically get a lower introductory interest rate with a 5/1 ARM in the first five years of the mortgage. But you could pay more after that period, depending on how the rate adjusts annually. If you plan to sell or refinance your house within five years, an ARM could be a good option.
Over the last few years, high inflation and the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes pushed up mortgage rates from their record lows around the pandemic. Since last summer, the Fed has consistently kept the federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%. Though the central bank doesn’t directly set the rates for mortgages, a high federal funds rate makes borrowing more expensive, including for home loans.
Mortgage rates change daily, but average rates have been moving between 6.5% and 7.5% since late last fall. Today’s homebuyers have less room in their budget to afford the cost of a home due to elevated mortgage rates and steep home prices. Limited housing inventory and low wage growth are also contributing to the affordability crisis and keeping mortgage demand down.
Most housing market experts predict rates will end the year between 6% and 6.5%. Ultimately, a more affordable mortgage market will depend on how quickly the Fed begins cutting interest rates. The central bank could start lowering interest rates in the fall, but it will depend on how the economy fares in the coming months.
Mortgage rates fluctuate for many reasons: supply, demand, inflation, monetary policy, jobs data and market expectations. Homebuyers won’t see lower rates overnight, and it’s unlikely there will ever be a return to the 2-3% mortgage rates we saw between 2000 and early 2022.
“We are expecting mortgage rates to fall to around 6.5% by the end of this year, but there’s still a lot of volatility I think we might see,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.
Every month brings a new set of inflation and labor data that can influence the direction of mortgage rates, said Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American Financial Corporation. “Ongoing inflation deceleration, a slowing economy and even geopolitical uncertainty can contribute to lower mortgage rates. On the other hand, data that signals upside risk to inflation may result in higher rates,” Kushi said.
Here’s a look at where some major housing authorities expect average mortgage rates to land.
Getting a mortgage should always depend on your financial situation and long-term goals. The most important thing is to make a budget and try to stay within your means. CNET’s mortgage calculator below can help homebuyers prepare for monthly mortgage payments.
Though mortgage rates and home prices are high, the housing market won’t be unaffordable forever. It’s always a good time to save for a down payment and improve your credit score to help you secure a competitive mortgage rate when the time is right.
Source: cnet.com
Still, mortgage professionals on the ground continue to note an elevated pace of application and homebuying activity with borrowers seemingly accustomed to the high-rate environment of recent times. Mortgage rates in the US have risen for the fourth consecutive week, reaching an average of 7.17% for 30-year fixed loans.https://t.co/7m4K777J6b — Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) … [Read more…]
Mortgage Bankers Association vice president and deputy chief economist Joel Kan said the report indicated “a little less strength than expected,” and said the slowdown would likely ease upward pressure on service sector inflation. Payroll employment increases by 175,000 in April; unemployment rate changes little at 3.9% https://t.co/ZwrVfLviqL #JobsReport #BLSdata — BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) May 3, 2024 … [Read more…]
The bond market–which dictates interest rates–had a generally favorable response to yesterday’s update from the Federal Reserve. While the Fed didn’t cut rates, and while they’re increasingly acknowledging that rate cuts are moving farther into the future, they still think data will evolve in a way that results in the next move being a cut as opposed to a hike.
Positive momentum continued today, in spite of several economic reports that argued the opposite case. Had these reports been top tier market movers, the counterintuitive victory would have been highly unlikely.
Friday is a different sort of day in terms of economic data. The big monthly jobs report is in a league of its own when it comes to labor market data, and while it may not currently be the most important report on any given month, it’s a consistent 2nd place behind CPI. After the jobs report, we’ll get a strong 2nd tier contender in the form of ISM’s service sector index.
These two reports have the power to accelerate or reverse the friendly tone seen in rates over the past 2 days. As for today, the average lender inched just barely to the lowest levels since April 12th. This wasn’t the case in the first half of the day, but as bonds improved, many lenders were able to issue mid-day reprices.
Source: mortgagenewsdaily.com
Higher interest rates are increasing pressure on homebuyers who are already facing a challenging housing market. Many would-be buyers are understandably putting purchasing plans on hold, but there are no signs mortgage rates will drop significantly in the near future, and there are some sensible steps to take if you want to become a homeowner soon.
Mortgage rates surged past 7% for the first time this year on April 18 and continued to climb last week. According to Freddie Mac’s benchmark survey, the rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate loan is averaging 7.17% — more than half a percentage point higher than at the start of the year. And the upward trend may not be over.
Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, says it’s hard to predict just how much higher rates could rise, given the volatility in the market. A lot depends on data regarding inflation, which is proving to be stickier than everyone hoped for, and market expectations as to when the Federal Reserve will start cutting short-term interest rates.
“Given the current [economic] trajectory we’re on, it’s looking like there’s still some upward momentum,” Kiefer says. “In the very near term, we’ll probably see these rates be at the current level or a little bit higher.”
Most early-year forecasts predicted that mortgage rates would start moving in a slow downward trend throughout the year. While those outlooks seemed to be on the money during the first two months of the year, the opposite has been true in recent months.
According to Bob Smith, head of real estate for Advisor Credit Exchange, for at least the remainder of the year, “Rates are going to be bounded in a range . . . probably in the 6%s, low 7%s.”
It’s unclear when inflation will finally be under control, meaning mortgage rates will probably remain volatile for a while before settling down.
In the long term, Kiefer and Smith see inflationary pressures easing later this year. That should help nudge mortgage rates lower — just “not as much as we had thought,” Kiefer says.
High mortgage rates are hitting buyers right in the middle of the spring buying season. According to Freddie Mac, about 36% of all home sales take place between March and June, making these months the busiest time in the housing market.
Elevated mortgage rates, combined with high home prices and a lack of enough inventory to meet buyer demand, have led to record-high monthly payments. Homeowners insurance costs are at all-time highs as well, up 20% in the past year. These factors are pushing many would-be buyers to put their plans on hold. According to a report by BMO Financial Group, 71% of would-be homebuyers are waiting for rates to drop before buying a house.
Potential home sellers are also feeling the crunch, especially those who bought when rates were much lower. The cost of obtaining a new mortgage at a higher rate is keeping owners locked into their homes.
Despite the challenges, buyers shouldn’t panic. “Rates are, for a large part, temporary. At some point, [they] will go down,” says Scott Bridges, chief CDL production officer at lender Pennymac.
Instead of worrying about things that are out of your control, it’s best to focus on the fundamentals of homebuying to see if purchasing a home right now is the right move (regardless of the rate). Here’s what you can do:
Check your credit score and try to improve it while you’re shopping for a home. Buyers with better credit generally have access to lower mortgage rates. On the other hand, taking on extra debt during this time will reduce your score as well as your debt-to-income ratio, which will cause lenders to offer a higher interest rate on a mortgage. “When rates are higher, every bit of debt counts,” says Bridges.
Higher mortgage rates could move some buyers out of the market, which means more opportunities and less competition for those who can afford to buy. Don’t be afraid to lowball a little bit. With fewer buyers, you may be able to negotiate a lower price or concessions with a motivated seller.
Ideally, you’ll find a move-in ready home that fits your budget. The reality is that homes requiring little to no work attract a lot of attention and you may find yourself in a bidding war. Don’t be afraid to look for homes that may need some TLC. The asking price is likely more negotiable, and you may find you can use the money you save to fix up the home to your taste.
Set a budget you’re comfortable with. Use a housing affordability calculator to get an estimate of how much you can pay towards a home purchase. You can also get loan estimates from several different lenders to find the best rates and loan terms. And remember, the maximum amount a lender is willing to lend isn’t necessarily what you should spend on a home. Set a lower budget if it makes better financial sense or if you want to have some wiggle room if you have to compete against other buyers.
A house is likely the most amount of money you’ll ever spend. Bridges says that homebuyers typically make mistakes when they rush the process. Take the time to inspect the property and ask to see a home appraisal. Make sure it’s the right fit for your needs at the right price for you.
“Try to do things patiently,” says Bridges. “Don’t overpay, and don’t panic.”
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Source: money.com
Ocwen Financial Corp., parent company of PHH Mortgage Corp. and Liberty Reverse Mortgage, reported an overall improvement in its business performance for the first quarter of 2024 — including better reverse mortgage performance attributed to servicing and higher gains on loans held for sale.
Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), Ocwen reported GAAP net income of $30 million or diluted earnings per share of $3.74, which company CEO Glen Messina characterized as the “highest level in six quarters.” It was driven primarily by improvements in servicing and origination. In Q4 2023, the company reported a GAAP net loss of $47 million.
On a Thursday earnings call, Ocwen leadership touted the company’s reverse mortgage division maintaining a top-five position among the leading lenders in the country, as well as continued positive performance of its forward and reverse mortgage servicing operations.
“Reverse servicing increased its profitable contribution with higher gains on loans held for sale, even as volume contracted,” said Sean O’Neill, Ocwen’s chief financial officer. “Underlying the strong results is the ongoing effort on continued cost improvements, driven by technology […] and traditional process improvements across both forward and reverse servicing, as well as lower advances on our legacy book, which have decreased 14% year over year.”
The company’s origination segment also returned to profitability, O’Neill said, despite challenges presented by persistently high mortgage rates and a contraction in reverse mortgage volume.
“Despite rising rates, further depressing seasonally low origination volume, we are pleased to say all of our channels returned to profitability in the quarter,” he said. “Higher margins on lower volumes drove the profitability, with reverse origination seeing the largest improvement. Lower profits and correspondence were offset by gains in reverse and bringing consumer direct back to break-even.”
Company leaders also said they will prioritize capitalizing on asset management opportunities to further grow the servicing portfolio, including for reverse mortgages.
“We also continue to dynamically manage our owned MSR portfolio to capitalize on differing views of market values amongst top market participants. As always, we remain flexible and committed to considering all options in this dynamic market to maximize value for shareholders,” Ocwen CEO Glen Messina said.
Initially announced in early April, Messina made reference to the company’s rebranding initiative, which will touch on all of its subsidiaries. The company will be known as Onity Group Inc., and the change will roll out to the PHH and Liberty divisions later in the year.
“Concurrent with our name change, we will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the new symbol ONIT,” Messina said. “Our primary operating brands, PHH Mortgage and Liberty Reverse Mortgage, will retain their names at this time. We expect to rebrand PHH and Liberty to Onity Mortgage later this year. We’re excited about this new chapter for the company and we look forward to operating under the Onity brand.”
A company spokesperson previously told RMD that the rebrand is subject to shareholder approval. Once it is secured, the new NYSE symbol will begin to be used. Shareholders will have the chance to vote on the initiative at their annual meeting on May 28
A timeline for the name change’s application to Liberty and PHH was not specified outside of “later” in 2024.
According to Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsement data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI), Liberty was the fourth-largest reverse mortgage lender in the country with 1,363 endorsements during the 12-month period ending in April 2024.
Source: housingwire.com
Housing experts say mortgage rates are likely to hover in the 7 percent range in May, amid elevated inflation that is keeping the Federal Reserve from reducing borrowing costs.
The high cost of home loans may keep buyers at bay as they await the decline of rates before they can make the leap toward homeownership.
Read more: Find the Lowest Rates From Top Mortgage Lenders
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates starting in March 2022 to its current two-decade high of 5.25 to 5.5 percent, a move geared to fight soaring inflation. This contributed to the push-up of borrowing costs, including for home loans. Inflation is still struggling to cool down to the 2 percent central bank target, which has forced policymakers to retain the high interest rate environment.
The 30-year fixed rate, for the week ending April 19, rose for the third week in a row to 7.24 percent—the highest level since November 2023.
Economic data, particularly around inflation, have come in higher than expected over the last few weeks. In March, inflation jumped to 3.5 percent on a yearly basis, up from 3.2 percent the prior month.
Unless inflation surprises in the coming weeks, mortgage rates are likely to stay in the 7 to 7.5 percent range, according to Realtor.com’s chief economist Danielle Hale. Fed policymakers are set to conclude their latest meeting on May 1, and they are unlikely to change their current stance on rates.
“Of all the data, I think that the inflation, specifically the [Consumer Price Index] out May 15, will have the biggest impact,” Hale told Newsweek. “Inflation and labor market data has come in higher and hotter than expected. This change in the data, which is driving a change in the outlook, has pushed interest rates, including mortgage rates, higher across the board.”
Read more: How to Get a Mortgage
High mortgage rates will depress buyers’ ability to buy homes.
“I expect homebuyers to approach the housing market more tepidly, and sales will reflect that trend,” Hale told Newsweek.
Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist at Zillow Home Loans, echoed Hale’s perspective on what will drive mortgage rates as inflation remains elevated.
“The fact that government borrowing remains high relative to demand for U.S. Treasury bonds is likely to continue to push yields—which mortgage rates follow—elevated,” he told Newsweek. “Looking into May, we can expect more rate volatility as investors and the Fed wait for more conclusive evidence of a return to low, stable and more predictable inflation.”
Buyers are still likely to be waiting for rates to fall but the key to the trajectory of rates will be how inflation performs over the coming months, said Holden Lewis, a home and mortgage expert at NerdWallet.
“Inflation remains stubbornly above the Fed’s target of 2 [percent], and mortgage rates won’t fall significantly until the inflation rate consistently drops for multiple months in a row,” Lewis told Newsweek. “Potential home buyers are holding back and waiting for mortgage rates to decline. The slowdown in home sales will allow the inventory of unsold homes to increase. That won’t stop home prices from going up, but it might slow down the pace of home price increases this summer.”
In May, policymakers from the Fed will reveal their latest rate decision and provide insights on the trajectory of borrowing costs. Also in May, the CPI inflation data reading for April will give insight into how prices are performing, which will give a signal to how rates might unfold over the next few weeks.
For the housing market, one silver lining may come from buyers who have to acquire homes due to personal situations.
Read more: How to Buy a House if You Have Bad Credit
“Purchases are likely to be dominated by movers who feel like they don’t have a choice to wait out higher rates, but rather, they have to move now for personal reasons,” Hale said.
Zillow’s Divounguy suggested that with mortgage rates expected to stay high, lower-priced homes could see escalated competition.
“We continue to expect significant competition this spring, especially for attractive listings on the lower end of the price range. New construction homes are selling well too; they’re available, and builders are offering financial incentives—such as rate buydowns and covering closing costs—to potential home buyers,” he said. “Remember, higher rates mean the home price a buyer can afford is lower, so if you’re shopping for a home in the mid-tier or lower, it’s best to assume you’ll run into some competition.”
Hale suggested that sellers, who can also be buyers, enter the housing market.
“With 80 [percent] of potential sellers having thought about selling for 1 to 3 years, it could be that higher rates are less of a deterrent this year than in the recent past,” she said.
The perspective from lenders appears to be that the 10-year treasury yields, currently at around 4.7 percent, will drop in the coming weeks to 4 percent and narrow the difference between mortgage rates and treasury rates.
“We expect the spread will tighten further by the end of 2024. The combination implies a 30-year fixed mortgage rate mostly unchanged in the coming weeks but eventually moving closer to 6.5 percent by the end of 2024,” Joel Kan, Mortgage Bankers Association’s deputy chief economist, told Newsweek.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Source: newsweek.com
So where does this leave us? Let’s look at my labor economic model that started on April 7, 2020, and see where are we today.
1. The current state of the labor market results from a series of events, with COVID-19 being a significant catalyst. I wrote the COVID-19 recovery model on April 7, 2020, and retired it on Dec. 9, 2020. By that time, the upfront recovery phase was done, and I needed to model out when we would get the jobs lost back.
2. During the early stages of the labor market recovery, when we observed weaker job reports, I remained steadfast in my belief that job openings would reach 10 million in this recovery. Despite the unexpected job report in May 2021, I was confident in the recovery trajectory. Job openings reached as high as 12 million and are now at 8.5 million. Today the labor market is less tight, but the Fed would love to see this number even lower, down to 7 million.
Currently, the job opening quit percentage and hires data are below pre-COVID-19 levels. We are getting closer to having a single handle on this data, which, when coming from an elevated level, means any Fed member talking about a tight labor market is smoking some good stuff.
3. I wrote that we should get back all the jobs lost to COVID-19 by September 2022. This would be a speedy labor market recovery but it happened right on schedule.
4. This is the key one right now: If COVID-19 hadn’t happened, we would have between 157 million and 159 million jobs today, based on the job growth rate in February 2020. Today, we are at 158,286,000. This is vital because given this level, job growth should be cooling down now. We will be more in line with where the labor market should be when the average is 140,000 to 165,000 monthly.
Today’s job print of 175,000 is still above my target level for where jobs should be and we are getting closer to that 159 million total nonfarm payroll number. I will be shocked if we are still trending above 165,000 per month once we break over 159 million total employed people. With that said, the labor market is still outperforming my model.
Looking at the six-month average of job-growth data, we are running at 242,000, even with all the revisions. I am still above my 165,000-per-month level, but we are heading in that direction.
From BLS: Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 175,000 in April, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care, in social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing.
Here are the jobs that were created and lost in the previous month:
In this jobs report, the unemployment rate for education levels looks like this:
A critical part of this report is that wage growth is cooling down, which is key to many of the Federal Reserve’s concerns. The Fed likes a 3% wage growth trend because they believe productivity is 1%. As you can see below, wage growth is continuing to head in that direction.
We now have multiple data lines that show the labor market isn’t as tight as it once was. The Federal Reserve is now considering this since they have been talking more about their dual mandate as opposed to just being a single mandate Fed. This is positive for mortgage rates because once they pivot, we can see a more sustained move lower in rates instead of what we have had to deal with since 2022. We still have some work to get wage growth back down to a 3%-3.5% level, but it’s at least heading that way.
Source: housingwire.com
Rates have been in retreat as bond market investors who fund most mortgage loans react to the latest economic news and scaleback in tightening by Fed policymakers.
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Mortgage rates retreated for the third day in a row Friday as the latest numbers from the Labor Department showed employers added fewer jobs than expected in April, pushing unemployment closer to 4 percent, a level not seen in more than two years.
The U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in April, down from 315,000 in March and the most anemic growth since October 2023. Economists had expected April employment growth of 240,000 jobs.
The report came on the heels of Wednesday’s announcement by Federal Reserve policymakers that they intend to slow the pace of “quantitative tightening” — an unwinding of the central bank’s $7 trillion balance sheet — to $40 billion a month, less than half the pace envisioned two years ago.
Change in employment, by month. Red bars are the latest forecast, including revisions to previous estimates for February and March. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“This report is nothing like bad enough to trigger a wholesale rethink at the Fed, but things will be different if the July numbers are weaker still, as we expect,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a note to clients. “The downshift in payroll growth has come exactly when the [National Federation of Independent Business] suggested it would, and the signal for the future is unambiguous.”
Futures markets tracked by the CME FedWatch Tool last week predicted that the odds were against the Fed making more than one 25-basis point rate cut this year. On Friday, investors had repositioned their bets in line with expectations that there’s a 61 percent chance of two or more Fed rate cuts by the end of the year, with the first move now expected in September rather than December.
Pantheon economists are sticking to their forecast that the central bank will bring the federal funds rate down by a full percentage point, starting in September.
“Businesses — especially small firms — are responding to the lagged effect of the huge increase in interest rates and the tightening in lending standards, which have made working capital much more expensive and harder to obtain,” Pantheon economists said. “At the margin, this is depressing hiring and lowering the bar to layoffs.”
Unemployment, which dipped below 4 percent in February 2022, is once again flirting with that level, hitting 3.9 percent in April, up half a percentage point from a year ago.
The Fed doesn’t have direct control over long-term rates, but bond market investors who fund most mortgage loans are reacting to this week’s news.
Yields on 10-year Treasurys, which often predict trends in mortgage rates, fell 7 basis points Friday to 4.50 percent, a 25-basis point drop from the 2024 high of 4.75 percent registered on April 25.
Surveys of lenders by Mortgage News Daily showed rates for 30-year fixed-rate loans dropping for a third day in a row Friday, to 7.28 percent, down 24 basis points from a 2024 high of 7.52 percent, also registered on April 25.
Data tracked by Optimal Blue, which lags by one day, showed borrowers were locking in rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages Thursday at an average rate of 7.21 percent, down 6 basis points from the 2024 high of 7.27 percent recorded on April 25.
Borrowers taking out jumbo loans have seen spreads over conventional mortgages widen as higher interest rates and defaults on commercial loans weigh on regional banks that are often the source of those loans.
The rates published by Mortgage News Daily (MND) are higher than those reported by Optimal Blue because MND’s rate index is adjusted to account for points that borrowers often pay to get a lower rate. Optimal Blue uses actual rates provided to borrowers for rate locks, whether they paid points or not.
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Source: inman.com
While mortgage rates remain higher than they were during the housing market’s booming pandemic years, Moody’s Ratings has predicted them to finally start declining over the next few years in a new report.
Exactly a week ago, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, better known as Freddie Mac, reported that the average rate for a 30-year-fixed mortgage—the most popular among U.S. borrowers—had reached 7.1 percent, a record high for this year so far.
Read more: How to Find the Right Mortgage for You
Moody’s Ratings’ experts believe mortgage rates will come down—just not as quickly as homebuyers might wish for. The financial research company is currently estimating that mortgage rates will remain higher “than the extremely low levels during the decade of aggressive central bank stimulus that preceded the past two years” in the coming months, but will likely reach around 6 percent or somewhat less by the end of 2025.
This is good news for aspiring homebuyers who have been squeezed out of the market by skyrocketing home prices and high mortgage rates, which climbed as a direct consequence of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-hiking campaign to combat the rise of inflation last year.
While most analysts expect the central bank to lower interest rates this year, the Federal Reserve has so far failed to do so, as the latest data on the cost of living show that inflation remains higher than expected at 3.48 percent in March. The Federal Reserve does not directly set mortgage rates, but any rise in interest rates impacts new mortgage lending.
Read more: Compare Low Rates With the Best Mortgage Lenders
Higher mortgage rates led to a drop in demand in late summer 2022 due to the unaffordability of buying a home for many Americans; but the price correction that followed this slide in demand was rather modest. In spring 2023, prices started climbing back up across the country, as the supply of homes remained low.
While the historic shortage of homes in the U.S. can primarily be traced back to the fact that the country has under-built following the bursting of the housing bubble and the financial crisis of 2007-2008, high mortgage rates have also caused many homeowners to hold on to their homes instead of putting them on the market.
“Many U.S. homeowners have low fixed-rate mortgages that they are reticent to give up, which is constraining existing property listings and sales,” Moody’s wrote in the report.
Faced with a growing demand for new constructions and mortgage interest rate buydowns, the company’s experts expect home prices to avoid significant decline in the coming months, sliding by a moderate 5 percent this year after falling 6.6 percent in 2023.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Source: newsweek.com