Sat.Jul 27, 2024 - Fri.Aug 02, 2024

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Mortgage rates drop to lowest level of 2024

Housing Wire

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 6.62% on Thursday, a new low for 2024 that appears to be tied to the expectation that the Federal Reserve could move to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September. This is according to data reported by Mortgage News Daily. On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that a rate cut is a possibility after the September meeting if economic data continues to trend in the right direction.

Mortgage 518
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Rent Prices Surge: What Renters Need to Know

Appraisal Buzz

Renters across the United States are grappling with soaring rental prices, a trend that shows no signs of slowing. According to a recent analysis by Forbes , rental prices have reached unprecedented levels, leaving many renters in a difficult position. Current Market Trends The latest data indicates that the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment has increased by approximately 10% over the past year.

Law 434
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Election uncertainty causing some buyers to hit pause

Real Estate News

Many homebuyers are waiting to see who the next president will be before continuing their home search, but it’s really the Fed that they should be watching.

Buyers 313
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Mortgage rates are in free fall on a triple whammy of economic news

Inman

Jobs reports trigger recession fears, sending rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages plunging to new 2024 lows as investors rotate out of stocks and into bonds.

Mortgage 196
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Mortgage rates plummet and everything has suddenly changed — for now

Housing Wire

Prospective borrowers with strong credit are locking in mortgages this week at the lowest rates in more than a year, loan officers and lending executives told HousingWire on Friday. A sample of more than a dozen industry professionals said they were quoting most borrowers in the high 5% to low 6% range on government loans and in the mid-6% range for conventional mortgages.

Mortgage 513
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Home Values Surge in Q2

Appraisal Buzz

Homeowner equity in the United States saw a significant increase in the second quarter of 2024, according to ATTOM Data’s latest U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report. The report reveals that 49.2% of mortgaged residential properties were considered equity-rich, a term indicating that the combined estimated loan balances secured by those properties were no more than half of their estimated market values.

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What Do You Know? pt 2

George Dell

We compared what you know with who you know in part 1 – in the context of diversity (or lack thereof) in the appraisal profession. In the past many appraisers entered the profession because they were born into it or married into it. A third path was to become an admin assistant (or secretary), learn […] The post What Do You Know? pt 2 appeared first on George Dell, SRA, MAI, ASA, CRE.

Appraisal 195
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Mortgage rates are falling as the labor market falters

Housing Wire

Job creation continued to slow in July as unemployment spiked, which economists say is good news for the Federal Reserve and the housing industry. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday shows that total nonfarm payroll rose by 114,000 jobs in July, below analysts’ expectations, and well below the average of monthly gain for the past 12 months of 215,000 jobs.

Marketing 476
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Election Influences Homebuying Plans, Survey Finds

Appraisal Buzz

As the 2024 presidential election approaches, 60% of prospective homebuyers say the election is impacting their homebuying plans, according to a new survey. The Veteran Homebuying Report, released today by Veterans United Home Loans, a national VA lender, highlights the significant effect political events are having on the real estate market. The online survey, conducted quarterly, gathered responses from more than 900 prospective homebuyers, including veterans, service members, and civilians.

Finance 418
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eXp overhauls listing agreement, invites industry to use it

Real Estate News

To align with the NAR settlement, eXp has issued a new listing form that explicitly states that there is no commission sharing with a buyer's agent.

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Courted, Inspectify, LPT Realty take top Inman Innovators honors

Inman

Inman honored 12 individuals and companies at its 26th annual Innovator Awards on Thursday, including awards for company, brokerage and innovator of the year. See the full list of winners.

Realty 190
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New listings have peaked for 2024: It’s the second-lowest year on record

Housing Wire

One of my critical forecasts for 2024 was the growth of new listings data and active inventory, even with higher mortgage rates. However, the new listings data has slightly disappointed me. Many of my CNBC interviews , starting from late last year and just last week , have been on this theme, and new listings have grown in 2024. But, I set targets with a minimum 80,000 new listings for at least one week at the seasonal peak and that didn’t happen; the peak so far was 72,329, and now we are enter

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Share of Active Homes For Sale Hits Post-Pandemic High

Appraisal Buzz

The market is getting more buyer-friendly as a result of a combination of increasing inventory levels and price decreases, according to Realtor.com’s July housing data. In July 2024, the number of active homes for sale increased by 36.6% from the same month the previous year, reaching a post-pandemic high. At the same time, the percentage of listings with price reductions reached 18.9%, the highest level since October.

Inventory 418
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Zillow rolls out new non-exclusive touring agreement

Real Estate News

The company said its contract — which will be available in 24 states — was designed to “help agents navigate new requirements” related to the NAR settlement.

Contracts 294
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Compass CEO: Clear cooperation is ‘anti-homeowner’

Inman

Robert Reffkin on Wednesday said clear cooperation attaches "negative insights" to listings, and predicted the polarizing anti-pocket listing rule is ultimately doomed.

Realtors 188
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Almost 40% of home shoppers hitting pause until after the election: survey

Housing Wire

Homebuyers often adjust their plans for the uncertainty that an election year can bring. With less than 100 days until the 2024 election, a majority of buyers are taking note. That’s according to survey results released Thursday by Veterans United Home Loans, which show that 60% of prospective buyers are taking the election into account. Even more dramatic is that 38% of homebuyers are pausing their search until after Election Day.

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Housing Supply Surge Boosts Affordability in Key Markets

Appraisal Buzz

Recent data from First American (First Am) Data & Analytics’ Real House Price Index (RHPI) reveals a significant shift in the housing market, with increased housing supply leading to improved affordability in some areas. First Am’s Chief Economist Mark Fleming emphasizes that as housing supply grows, affordability tends to improve, diminishing the dominance of a seller’s market.

Marketing 418
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A closer look at the trade secrets driving the Move-CoStar lawsuit

Real Estate News

Move Inc. lawyers said that a former employee who went to work for CoStar accessed Realtor.com’s proprietary calendar containing future plans for articles.

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RFK Jr. at ICLV: Homeownership is the engine of the middle class

Inman

The Kennedy family scion and presidential contender also argued Thursday at Inman Connect Las Vegas that democracy depends on people maintaining "a posture of fierce skepticism.

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Almost half of homes in the US are now ‘equity-rich’: ATTOM

Housing Wire

Rapidly rising home prices are bad news for prospective buyers, but they’re proving quite beneficial for homeowner equity. That’s according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions that found that in the second quarter of 2024, 49.2% of mortgaged homes were “equity-rich,” defined as having a loan balance of less than half of the estimated market value of those homes.

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Measuring the Impact of NAR’s Agent Commission Settlement

Appraisal Buzz

The typical U.S. home seller pays a 2.55% commission to the real estate agent hired by their home’s buyer, according to a new analysis of MLS data by Redfin —down from an average of 2.62% reported in January. Commissions have been gradually declining over the past decade, from an average of 2.89% in 2013 to 2.66% in 2023. It’s possible that news of a legal settlement by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) in March has contributed to the recent decline by making consumers more aware they c

Agents 397
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No rate cuts yet, but they're 'on the table'

Real Estate News

As expected, the Fed held steady on rates today, but signaled the possibility of cuts in September. That might not mean big drops in mortgage rates, however.

Mortgage 279
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Consumer watchdog holds up new eXp seller contract as model

Inman

A new draft seller contract that eXp Realty is distributing to its brokers and agents is largely consistent with a newly issued set of criteria from the Consumer Federation of America, the watchdog group said this week.

Contracts 183
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Mr. Cooper to issue $750M in debt following M&A deal with Flagstar

Housing Wire

Mr. Cooper Group has priced the issuance of $750 million in debt to refinance outstanding mortgage servicing rights (MSR) facilities, an announcement that comes only four days after making public its billion-dollar acquisition of Flagstar Bank ‘s servicing assets. On Monday, the mortgage lender and servicer said that its debt offering to qualified investors through subsidiary Nationstar Mortgage Holdings will bear an annual interest rate of 6.5% that is payable semiannually.

Investors 450
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New Government Programs Providing Middle-Income Renters With Relief

Appraisal Buzz

A new paper by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies examines 11 state and local programs created to address the housing needs of middle-income renters. The programs studied in “ Subsidizing the Middle: Policies, Tradeoffs, and Costs of Addressing Middle-Income Affordability Challenges ” provide direct and indirect public subsidy, everything from grants and loans to property tax exemption and government guarantee of construction loans (see table below).

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Pending sales up for the first time since March

Real Estate News

While still sluggish, it’s a sign that demand is lurking, and sales “would have been even higher” if buyers weren’t waiting for mortgage rates to drop.

Buyers 279
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Lowest Homeownership Rate for Younger Householders in Four Years

Eyes on Housing

The U.S. homeownership rate was 65.6% in the second quarter of 2024, unchanged from the first quarter of 2024, according to the Census’s Housing Vacancies and Homeownership Survey (HVS). However, this marks the lowest rate in the last two years. The homeownership rate is below the 25-year average rate of 66.4%, due to a multidecade.

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Rate adds Manginelli to lead sales coaching program

Housing Wire

Rate has hired a new head coach. The Chicago -based mortgage lender announced Tuesday that it’s bringing on Daniel Manginelli to lead its sales coaching program, which is designed to help mortgage professionals implement best practices and improve performance. According to the company, the coaching program for salespeople makes Rate one of only 10 mortgage companies with in-house coaching. “We hold back nothing in providing our professionals with world-class training and ensuring that our

Tools 448
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A Growing Number of Parents and Adult Children Are Cohabitating

Appraisal Buzz

Young adults residing with family for financial reasons, middle-aged homeowners caring for ailing parents or aging grandparents, or close-knit kin cohabiting because they enjoy one another’s company—the reasons vary, but, per Pew Research Center , more than 59 million Americans today live in multigenerational households. That’s about four times what it was in the 1970s.

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How one major association is getting ahead of industry changes

Real Estate News

South Florida’s Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors is taking a two-pronged approach, using ads to educate consumers while helping members stay informed.

Realtors 274
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Homes.com puts agents first

Inman

At the new Homes.com, we always present the listing agent and only the listing agent on any home for sale on our site. Our philosophy is that the leads on an agent’s listings are theirs alone and not anyone else’s to pilfer and sell.

Agents 180
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Surprise, housing cost to income ratio has barely changed

Housing Wire

Although Americans have complained about high housing costs for decades, their concerns have taken on a fevered pitch recently. At first glance, these concerns seem reasonable: home prices have increased by more than 50% since the end of 2019. This is an annual growth rate of almost 14%—far higher than the long run average rate of 4%. We’ve recently lived through an unusually rapid run-up in home prices.

Finance 445
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Pending Home Sales Strengthened in June

Appraisal Buzz

In a new report, an estimated 4.8% increase was reported in June pending home sales by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). There were gains in transactions each month in all four U.S. regions. The West had an increase year-over-year, while the Northeast, Midwest, and South saw decreases. “The rise in housing inventory is beginning to lead to more contract signings,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist.

Contracts 397
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Major MLS inks agreement to tap international market

Real Estate News

The Houston Association of Realtors formed a data share partnership with the largest Latin American MLS, giving members access to listings across 22 countries.

Realtors 266