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The mortgage rate lock-in didn’t start in 2022

Housing Wire

This is an excerpt of a HousingWire Research report titled: What Everyone Needs to Know about Mortgage Rate Lock-in, by Altos President Mike Simonsen. housing market saw dramatic changes in affordability as mortgage rates skyrocketed 500 basis points. million in January 2021 (when mortgage rates were 2.7%) fell to 3.9

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Are we seeing a mortgage rate lockdown?

Housing Wire

The premise of a mortgage rate lockdown is simple: so many American households have such low mortgage rates that some will never move once rates rise, which then locks up housing inventory. Typically we have a natural set of new listings each year; inventory rises in the spring and summer and then falls in the fall and winter.

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Why purchase application data is below 2008 levels

Housing Wire

But I need to explain why this level has more in common with 2014 housing data than the credit stress markets of 2005-2008, and why you should care. In the summer of 2020, I talked about how the housing market would change, but it needed the 10-year yield to break over 1.94%, which roughly means 4% plus mortgage rates.

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Housing Market Tracker: Inventory finally rises

Housing Wire

We didn’t see too much volatility in mortgage rates last week, but purchase apps declined in reaction to rates rising two weeks ago. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: Active listings rose by 8,546 , and new listing data showed some growth. Again, I am a bit mindful here due to Easter.

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Is housing inventory growth really slowing down?

Housing Wire

One of the most important housing market stories in recent weeks has been the decline in new listings , which has slowed the growth rate of total inventory. Redfin : Realtor.com : Altos Research : Clearly, we are seeing a slowdown in new listings as the data has been negative now for months. What does this mean?

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Can lower mortgage rates stop the housing recession?

Housing Wire

To say that mortgage rates have been on a wild Mr. Toad’s ride in 2022 is an understatement. People thought the mortgage rate drama in 2013-2014 was a lot when rates went from 3.5% People thought the mortgage rate drama in 2013-2014 was a lot when rates went from 3.5% We saw this in 2013-2014 and 2018-2019.

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Housing Market Tracker: Spring inventory falls

Housing Wire

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.

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