Housing Wire

OCTOBER 28, 2023

31, 2022, that mortgage rates would hit 8% in 2023, you would reasonably assume housing inventory would sky rocket higher, home prices would fall noticeably, and the number of price cuts would be higher year over year. Last year, the seasonal peak for inventory was Oct. Weekly inventory change (Oct.

Inventory 510

Inventory Mortgage New Listings Marketing 510

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 4, 2024

How will mortgage rates impact seasonal inventory in 2024? In the last four years, we have had abnormal seasonal inventory data, meaning that the spring inventory bottom happens later in the year. Also, when mortgage rates rise, the inventory peak happens later in the year.

Inventory 511

Inventory Mortgage New Listings Housing Market 511

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 25, 2023

Lower mortgage rates tend to take housing supply off the market and demand has been picking up lately as rates have fallen. However, the recent drop in housing inventory has more to do with seasonality factors than lower mortgage rates. Mortgage rates and the 10-year yield The 10-year yield ended the week roughly flat.

Inventory 530

Inventory Mortgage New Listings Buyers 530

Housing Wire

JANUARY 20, 2024

Housing inventory, new listing data and mortgage rates are all rising, but the price cut data percentages are falling. I will watch for rising mortgage rates to see if they change the weekly data. I will watch for rising mortgage rates to see if they change the weekly data. So far, so good in 2024.

Inventory 540

Inventory Mortgage New Listings Sellers 540

Housing Wire

APRIL 27, 2024

Active weekly housing inventory growth slowed slightly last week, but it’s still running at a healthier clip than in 2023. I have a simple model with mortgage rates being above 7.25%: weekly inventory data should grow between 11,000-17,000 per week. We have now seen it for two weeks as inventory grew by 13,247.

Inventory 512

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 512

Housing Wire

JULY 20, 2024

We finally have six weeks of numbers that hit my housing inventory growth model perfectly in 2024. Last year, with higher mortgage rates , we had zero weeks at this level so I am now giving 2024 inventory growth a grade of A. have higher inventory than the national data.

Inventory 524

Inventory New Listings Contracts Mortgage 524

Housing Wire

APRIL 20, 2024

Housing inventory finally hit my target level of growth last week with mortgage rates now over 7.25% , something I couldn’t get all last year. Weekly housing inventory data Higher mortgage rates with duration will likely lead to higher inventory, which we have seen repeatedly for the past 10 years. 2022: 18.7%

Inventory 493

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Finance 493

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

What’s going on with housing inventory ? The last four weeks of new listings data have been the most volatile since mortgage rates breached 6% in 2022. In reality, the volatility in housing inventory is due to the Labor Day holiday, the start of school and the fact that new listings are trending at the lowest levels ever.

Inventory 489

Inventory New Listings Housing Market Mortgage 489

Housing Wire

JANUARY 28, 2024

But, even with mortgage rates higher this year than last year, demand is rising. Once I make some holiday adjustments, we have eight weeks of a positive trend since mortgage rates fell from the 8% high , and as of now, the slightly higher rates we’ve seen recently haven’t impacted the data just yet. This is common in January.

Inventory 524

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Marketing 524

Housing Wire

AUGUST 20, 2023

Last week, mortgage rates hit a 21st-century high, the 10-year yield closed slightly higher than my peak forecast for 2023 , and housing inventory growth was still slow. Mortgage rates went from 7.19%% to 7.37%. Last year, the seasonal decline took longer than usual, but 2022 was an abnormal year with mortgage rates.

Inventory 369

Inventory Mortgage New Listings Sellers 369

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 30, 2023

Going into 2023, people thought housing inventory would skyrocket, home prices would crash, and we would see the housing market of 2008 all over again. Looking back on 2023, the inventory story was a big surprise even as mortgage rates headed toward 8%, as the data below will show. Weekly inventory change (Dec.

Inventory 508

Inventory New Listings Housing Market Mortgage 508

Housing Wire

APRIL 23, 2023

Since 2020, the seasonal bottom for housing inventory has arrived several months later than normal, making it more complicated to track housing inventory data. Still, we have some promising signs that we might have finally hit the inventory bottom for 2023. I hope the seasonal bottom was two weeks ago.

Inventory 545

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 545

Housing Wire

MARCH 30, 2024

The best housing story in 2024 is that inventory is growing — both active inventory and new listings. With mortgage rates at the current levels, inventory is still below my expectations, but it’s still such a positive story that I had to discuss it on CNBC last week. 2022: 17.2% So far, so good here.

Inventory 442

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Housing Market 442

Housing Wire

NOVEMBER 11, 2023

Total housing inventory growth has been slow in 2023, but with rising mortgage rates over the last few months, inventory has grown a bit faster than average. The question now is: Have we hit the seasonal peak in inventory for 2023? Last year, according to Altos Research , the seasonal peak for housing inventory was Oct.

Inventory 476

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Retail 476

Housing Wire

APRIL 30, 2023

The spring housing market music is playing, and purchase application data and active listing inventory rose together last week. The fear of not having an increase in inventory this spring should be put to rest. The other focus should be where mortgage rates go; only a little happened last week.

Inventory 522

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 522

Housing Wire

JANUARY 13, 2024

Last week, housing inventory grew and the number of price cuts fell, which is expected at this time of the year. I hope the next thing we see is housing inventory grow at the level it typically does in January or February instead of being delayed until March or April. So let’s hope for more home sellers in 2024. 2022 21.7%

Inventory 528

Inventory New Listings Retail Mortgage 528

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 7, 2023

Mortgage rates were scarier than Freddy Krueger last week, rising to a 23-year high as some of the labor data surprised to the upside. Unfortunately, those higher mortgage rates didn’t spur inventory growth this week, so we didn’t even get the benefit we would usually see when rates rise.

Inventory 481

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Marketing 481

Housing Wire

JULY 9, 2023

The slow zombie crawl of housing inventory went lower last week as inventory was negative week to week. In addition, mortgage rates rose to a yearly high as labor data stayed firm and purchase apps had their first negative week after three straight weeks of positive growth. The 10-year yield is close to yearly highs as the U.S.

Inventory 486

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 486

Housing Wire

MARCH 26, 2023

These events led to lower mortgage rates and increased purchase application data last week, but decreased housing inventory. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: The 10-year yield had a Lord of Rings battle at a critical technical level, pushing mortgage rates lower at the end of the week with no real break in the bond market.

Inventory 473

Inventory Housing Market Marketing Mortgage 473

Housing Wire

APRIL 6, 2024

Weekly housing inventory data — both active inventory and new listings — are prone to one-week moves that deviate from a trend, especially if people are going Easter egg hunting. So, the fact that active inventory and new listings data fell last week isn’t a big deal.

Inventory 463

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Housing Market 463

Housing Wire

MAY 7, 2023

Just when I thought it was safe to say we were getting more traditional spring housing inventory , we hit a snag last week, as active inventory and new listings declined. We had a lot of drama over the week between Federal Reserve meetings and banking stress, and mortgage rates and purchase applications both fell.

Inventory 504

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 504

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 10, 2023

Last week we saw a noticeable decline in new listings and active inventory was barely positive. Does this mean housing inventory has begun its seasonal decline? That said, I hope we extend inventory growth longer before the seasonal decline. Here are the numbers, according to Altos Research : Weekly inventory change (Sept.

Inventory 477

Inventory New Listings Retail Mortgage 477

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 10, 2024

While weekly inventory is still falling, we have year-over-year growth in total active listing and new listings data. This calls into question a mortgage rate lockdown, as mortgage rates are also higher year over year. However, this data can move stronger in either direction when mortgage rates rise or fall aggressively.

Inventory 516

Inventory New Listings Retail Mortgage 516

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

An often misguided premise I see on social media is that lower mortgage rates are doing nothing for housing demand. Purchase application data First, purchase apps is the fastest way to look for positive or negative data at higher or lower mortgage rates. Weekly housing inventory data Higher rates lead to more inventory.

Mortgage 519

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Retail 519

Housing Wire

JUNE 4, 2023

Last week we saw a noticeable slowdown in housing inventory growth that I hope has more to do with a holiday week than a trend. Mortgage rates fell last week after the debt ceiling issues were resolved, but the damage from higher rates took its toll on purchase application data again.

Inventory 446

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 446

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 28, 2024

Housing demand is very seasonal, so the fact that our pending contract data is firming up lately just shows that lower mortgage rates have stabilized and firmed up demand recently. It will likely take mortgage rates to go under 6% and stay there for an extended period to get real sustained demand growth from record-low sales levels.

Mortgage 504

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Contracts 504

Housing Wire

OCTOBER 5, 2024

18 and mortgage rates and bond yields headed higher. But, we have to remember that mortgage rates had already made an almost 2% move lower since the highs of 2023 without rate cuts, as the bond market always gets ahead of the Fed. This explains the rise in mortgage rates since the Fed cut rates.

Mortgage 493

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Retail 493

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 7, 2024

Mortgage rates have made almost a 2% move lower from the highs of 2023. Now that the jobs week data is in, the question is: can mortgage rates go even lower? Mortgage spreads Another way for mortgage rates to drop to the lowest level of the forecast or below is to improve mortgage spreads.

Mortgage 519

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Marketing 519

Housing Wire

JULY 13, 2024

In 2023, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank , the spreads between the 30-year mortgage and 10-year yield were at their worst, leading to new cycle highs. This meant mortgage rates were significantly higher than average. Mortgage spreads Last year, the 10-year yield hit 5% and mortgage rates got above 8%.

Mortgage 506

Mortgage New Listings Inventory Contracts 506

Housing Wire

APRIL 16, 2023

The seasonal housing inventory bottom evaded us again last week as active listings fell and new listing inventory decreased. Mortgage rates didn’t move much last week, but the 10-year yield rose even though inflation data was tamer than expected, and we had a weaker retail sales report number. The answer is no!

Inventory 530

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 530

Housing Wire

JULY 2, 2023

Housing inventory finally broke under 2022 levels last week. Mortgage rates rose last week after the better-than-anticipated jobless claims data but even with higher rates, we also had a third week of positive purchase application data. In March of 2022 we had the lowest inventory levels ever recorded in history.

Inventory 481

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 481

Housing Wire

JANUARY 2, 2023

This is why I’ve created the Housing Market Tracker — a weekly analysis of purchase apps, housing inventory and mortgage rates that will be published every Monday. The Altos Research weekly inventory data looks ahead before the sales report inventory data. The 10-year yield shows where mortgage rates will go.

Inventory 479

Inventory Housing Market Marketing Mortgage 479

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 22, 2024

Have we seen the bottom in mortgage rates for 2024 after a crazy roller coaster ride so far this year? My 2024 forecast had a mortgage rate range of 7.25%-5.75%. To get to the lower end of this range, we needed to see two things: the labor market getting softer and the mortgage spreads improving. Weekly inventory change (Sept.

Mortgage 508

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Contracts 508

Housing Wire

AUGUST 4, 2024

Mortgage rates moved massively lower last week without any Federal Reserve rate cuts, primarily because the labor market is getting softer. Can mortgage rates go even lower? We don’t have that variable this year and spreads have improved earlier than I thought, which has helped mortgage pricing.

Mortgage 507

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Housing Market 507

Housing Wire

AUGUST 6, 2023

The housing inventory data from last week makes me wonder if we are starting the seasonal decline in active listings in August. Mortgage rates also had a crazy week and purchase apps fell once again. Saying that the housing inventory growth in 2023 has been disappointing is an understatement.

Inventory 367

Inventory New Listings Mortgage Housing Market 367

Housing Wire

MARCH 6, 2023

The housing market faced some serious obstacles last week as the 10-year yield broke over 4%, mortgage rates rose to over 7%, purchase apps fell again and we are still trying to find the elusive seasonal bottom for housing inventory. I discussed my theory on why inventory bottoms out later in the year on this HousingWire Daily podcast.

Inventory 458

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 458

Housing Wire

APRIL 3, 2023

Housing demand grew and inventory levels fell again while mortgage rates rose. Mortgage rates rose to 6.57%. Active inventory fell by 3,141, and new listing data fell again and is still trending at all-time lows. The 10-year yield and mortgage rates Last week was interesting for the 10-year yield and mortgage rates.

Inventory 497

Inventory Housing Market Marketing New Listings 497