Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 1, 2024

Have we seen the peak in housing inventory for 2024? The best part about 2024 has been that higher mortgage rates have created an inventory buffer, so if the economy gets softer and rates fall, we have many more homes to work with than we had in 2020-2023. I have consistently written that with mortgage rates above 7%, inventory should grow between 11,000-17,000 and this year it has happened six times perfectly in the channel.

Inventory 538

Inventory Mortgage New Listings Housing Market 538

Appraisal Buzz

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

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Construction 459

Construction Inventory Housing Market Contracts 459

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

The Federal Reserve cut rates on Wednesday and mortgage rates went up! What happened? The answer lies in the bond market. The 10-year yield and 30-year mortgage rates have been in a slow dance since 1971 and trended together. The bond market isn’t old and slow like the Fed — it moves very quickly, and for months it has been sending the 10-year yield (and mortgage rates) lower in anticipation of a series of Fed rate cuts, not just one or two.

Mortgage 531

Mortgage Retail Marketing Housing Market 531

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. However, considering the affordability challenges with the housing market , it’s good to see a flip in the housing data without rates getting under 6%.

Mortgage 524

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Contracts 524

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? The answer is yes, but we will need more economic weakness, better spreads and a more dovish Fed. While the Fed can be old and slow, the bond market, thankfully, is doing a lot of the heavy lifting and has already priced in a lot of Fed easing policy.

Mortgage 533

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Marketing 533

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. This is the double-whammy impact, and that’s what has happened.

Mortgage 524

Mortgage Inventory New Listings Contracts 524

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

Seller repurchases of Freddie Mac mortgages rose by $430 million in the second quarter of 2024, a 29.1% increase from the first quarter, according to an analysis of public filings by Inside Mortgage Finance. By contrast, sellers of loans through fellow government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae repurchased $268.5 million in noncompliant loans during the same period, a 27.7% decline from Q1 2024.

Sellers 514

Sellers Government Finance Mortgage 514

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

The majority of homebuyers are still expecting sellers to cover their agent’s compensation, according to The Real Brokerage ’s August 2024 agent survey. This comes even as the business practice changes outlined in the National Association of Realtors ‘ (NAR) nationwide commission lawsuit settlement have been implemented across the country. Real conducted its survey between Aug. 30 and Sept. 15, recording the responses of roughly 300 agents across North America.

Sellers 511

Sellers Agents Buyers Brokerage 511

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Real estate agents have white-knuckled their way through more than two years of suffocatingly high mortgage rates that have stymied sales, choked off inventory and pushed home prices to new all-time highs. So what was the reaction from agents when the Federal Reserve surprised everyone by cutting rates by 50 basis points rather than the 25 that was taken as a given?

Real Estate Agent 511

Real Estate Agent Real Estate Agents Buyers 511

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

On this crazy day with the bond market, mortgage rates dropped to another yearly low after the CPI inflation print. How low? Mortgage News Daily came out with a shocking print of 6.11% mortgage rates for their top-tier borrowers, while HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center , which tracks actual loan lock data from Polly , is also at a year-to-date low of 6.44%.

Mortgage 514

Mortgage Marketing Housing Market 514

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 6, 2024

In 2022, I argued that the Federal Reserve won’t pivot until the labor market breaks. This means that the Fed will need to create such a slowdown in the labor market that nobody will question their action when they pivot. This is what I call the “cover cuts” policy. After today’s jobs report and the negative revision to this report and the previous ones, it is safe to say nobody outside of crazy people who want to see America go into a recession will question the Fed rate cut that will happen th

Marketing 514

Marketing Construction Mortgage Housing Market 514

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024

Home equity continued to rise in the second quarter of 2024 as residential properties with mortgages collectively gained $1.3 trillion in equity over the past year. But growth began to slow during these three months, according to the CoreLogic Homeowner Equity Insights report published on Thursday. The aggregate equity gain was 8% year over year, bringing total equity on mortgaged properties to more than $17.6 trillion at the end of Q2 2024.

Insurance 508

Insurance Mortgage Housing Market Finance 508

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

The question from the housing industry after the Federal Reserve ’s half-point interest rate cut is simple — will this bring buyers back to the stalled housing market? A new report from Redfin suggests that it is already happening. The company analyzed mortgage rate-lock data from Optimal Blue and found that locks have risen 68% this week compared to one month earlier.

Real Estate Agent 501

Real Estate Agent Housing Market Agents Buyers 501

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

In what has become a familiar fall ritual, mortgage lenders are increasing their conforming loan limits months ahead of the FHFA’s official announcement. On Friday, Rocket Pro TPO and Pennymac both announced an increase in their conforming loan limits to $802,650 — before the expected increase by the FHFA in November. Rocket’s increase was effective Friday and Pennymac’s increase will be effective for new broker locks on Monday, Sept. 16.

Mortgage 505

Mortgage 505

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday by 50 basis points (bps) to a range of 4.75% to 5%, turning an important corner in the central bank’s fight against inflation. The cut is the first since March 2020 after the Fed raised interest rates to a 23-year high point to cool the economy and quell inflation. With both inflation and the labor market cooling, economists and housing professionals alike had expected the Fed to cut borrowing costs in September, with the

Inventory 501

Inventory Mortgage Tools Marketing 501

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

With the calendar shifting to September and the next meeting of Federal Reserve policymakers only two weeks out, mortgage rates continue to recede and evidence suggests that borrowers are reacting to more favorable housing market conditions. At HousingWire ‘s Mortgage Rates Center on Tuesday, the 30-year rate for conforming loans averaged 6.60%, down from 6.64% one week ago.

Mortgage 501

Mortgage Inventory Buyers Sellers 501

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

Like the traditional forward space, the reverse mortgage industry has been operating in an elevated interest rate environment for some time. While news of the Federal Reserve lowering its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points (bps) to a range of 4.75% to 5% will have wider economic ramifications in the government’s ongoing efforts to fight inflation, there are expected benefits to the reverse mortgage business as well as the demographic it serves: seniors on a fixed income.

Mortgage 493

Mortgage Finance Lending Insurance 493

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

The landmark antitrust lawsuit settlement agreed to by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in March has put the practices of real estate agents in the spotlight for both regulators and clients alike. Now, with agent commissions starting to decline, agents naturally want to convey the value of their services to buyers and sellers. New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta attempts to answer one question — can my agent get a better sale price on my home than a competing agent?

Agents 488

Agents Real Estate Agent Real Estate Sellers 488

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

Elevated mortgage rates have strained housing affordability for more than two years. With rates now falling — and more downward movement expected after the Federal Reserve ‘s recent interest rate cut — two new reports suggest that affordability is getting better too. The third-quarter 2024 housing affordability report from Attom says that falling mortgage rates, rising wages and slower home-price growth has made the expenses of buying and owning a home slightly more affordable.

Housing Market 488

Housing Market Mortgage Inventory Buyers 488

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

Declining mortgage rates have yet to break the dam on the stalled housing market, but the sweet spot on rates that would get the market moving again is about 5%. That’s according to a new survey from Mphasis Digital Risk, which revealed that 42% of prospective buyers said a 5% rate would get them back in the market. An additional 27% said they’re targeting a 4% rate, while 20% say it’s 6%.

Buyers 493

Buyers Marketing Mortgage Real Estate Agent 493

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

After falling in July, housing starts were back up again in August, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In August, housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.356 million, up 2.9% month over month and up 3.9% compared to a year ago. The single-family sector was the sole source of thus increase, as multifamily starts were down 6.7% monthly and 6.2% annually to a rate of 333,000 start

Marketing 488

Marketing Construction Development Housing Market 488

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

More than 16 million Americans who are 65 or older are living alone, but the depth of their experiences is largely unknown. This is according to a recent story published by KFF Health News. “This slice of the older population has significant health issues: Nearly 4 in 10 seniors living alone have vision or hearing loss, difficulty caring for themselves and living independently, problems with cognition, or other disabilities, according to a KFF analysis of 2022 census data,” the story explained.

Technology 482

Technology Government Development Marketing 482

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

In the real estate industry, referral fees have become a golden goose that stifles innovation, inflates the value chain, and ultimately harms both consumers and agents. Despite their prevalence, the current system is ripe for reexamination. The referral fee conundrum Referral fees are a familiar practice in real estate. Suppose someone with a real estate license identifies a potential homebuyer or seller.

Real Estate 484

Real Estate Agents Clients Advertising 484

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

The American dream of homeownership is slipping away for many, as the gap between wages and home prices continues to widen. In the 1970s, home prices aligned more closely with income levels. Today, escalating real estate costs—particularly in high-cost areas—are pricing millions of Americans out of the housing market. One potential solution? Extending the traditional 30-year mortgage to 40 or even 50 years.

Mortgage 482

Mortgage Supply Chain Real Estate Investors 482

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is rolling out a new 75 basis-point incentive program for conforming conventional and government-backed rate-and-term refinances. The program, dubbed “Refi75,” effectively replaces and expands on “Govy 125,” a 125-bps incentive that ended Tuesday for Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans (IRRRLs) through the U.S.

Government 487

Government Technology Clients Investing 487

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Dawn Pfaff is a free-market evangelist, and that informs how she runs MyState MLS. The privately owned multiple listing service has taken a laissez faire approach since its launch in 2009, as it promises no fees and fewer rules than MLSs owned by Realtor associations. This manifesto has helped MyState develop a national footprint with listings for all types of properties, including single-family homes, manufactured homes, newly built homes, foreclosures and even land.

Legal 482

Legal Realtors Agents Brokerage 482

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

With home sale prices continuing to rise, wire fraud prevention firm CertifID announced Thursday that it is increasing its direct, first-party insurance coverage maximum to $2 million. This means that up to $2 million of a wire transfer verified by CertifID can receive direct, first-party insurance coverage. The company said this change is the result of increasing transaction sizes being processed by both residential and commercial real estate companies, and that it “is backed by the largest ins

Insurance 481

Insurance Real Estate Clients Technology 481

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

Starter homes are more affordable to the average American than they were a year ago, but they have become significantly less affordable over the past decade. That’s the conclusion Redfin reached in a data report released Monday. The national real estate brokerage analyzed household income levels and monthly housing payments to calculate its affordability metric.

Buyers 476

Buyers Real Estate Mortgage Brokerage 476

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

Slightly more than half of Americans say that weather events are becoming an increasing risk factor for their homes, while nearly one in five report difficulties in accessing homeowners insurance. This is according to results of a survey conducted by NeighborWorks America , a congressionally chartered community development organization. The heightened concern reflects “a growing recognition of climate change and its direct implications for housing security,” NeighborWorks said.

Insurance 476

Insurance Development Housing Market Finance 476

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024

Lower mortgage rates over the past several months have led to increased affordability for prospective homebuyers, and this could lead to an extra competitive fall 2024 season. That’s according to a Zillow report released Thursday in which the Seattle -based real estate company said that “lower mortgage rates and rising inventory are giving home buyers a window of opportunity at an unusual time of year.“ Zillow noted that the U.S. median monthly mortgage payment in August had declined by mo

Housing Market 482

Housing Market Marketing Inventory Buyers 482

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

In a traditional sense, the term “silver tsunami” refers to pent-up housing stock that older homeowners will eventually choose to sell, which would have the effect of flooding the market with new inventory. But if prior suppositions about this trend being overblown failed to convince people, new data might make things clearer. More than half (54%) of baby boomers have no intention of ever selling their homes, according to new survey data from Clever Real Estate.

Property Taxes 482

Property Taxes Inventory Real Estate Mortgage 482

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024

A majority of U.S. veterans are not aware of the fact they can qualify for grants from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to allow them to age in place, according to survey data from senior advocacy group AARP. Sixty percent of veterans who are 45 and older “are unaware that VA provides grant funding for home modifications , and almost a quarter of veterans say they need financial assistance to modify their homes to continue living there,” according to an article published by the VA.

Design 476

Design Renovations Finance 476

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

While inventory of unsold homes in the housing market in each of the last two years headed higher during September and October due to mortgage rate spikes, we’re seeing a more normal seasonal pattern now with inventory beginning to decline. We’re also seeing more home sellers withdrawing their listings to try again next year. In fact, for every two sales, there is another listing withdrawn from the market.

Sellers 482

Sellers Inventory Contracts New Listings 482

Housing Wire

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024

Invitation Homes , the largest owner of U.S. single-family rental homes , has agreed to pay $48 million to consumers and change some of its practices, according to a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that was announced Tuesday. According to the FTC, Invitation Homes advertised monthly rent prices without including mandatory “junk fees.

Advertising 476

Advertising Landlords Tenants Inspection 476