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Mortgage demand picks up as seller concessions rise

Housing Wire

Loan officers saw an increase in mortgage demand during the first week of 2023 as mortgage rates ticked down. And to close deals, sellers are increasingly coming to the table with concessions and rate buydowns. . According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage applications rose 1.2%

Sellers 527
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Home seller concessions reach pre-pandemic levels

Housing Wire

of home sellers gave concessions to homebuyers in Q4 of 2022, through money for repairs and mortgage-rate buydowns. In Q3 of 2022 and Q4 of 2021, sellers gave concessions in 30% of home sales. When the 30-year mortgage rate was around 3%, there was a higher demand for homes and such deals were not as popular.

Sellers 458
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As rising mortgage rates push buyers to the brink, sellers are starting to cut prices

Housing Wire

Even with demand buoyed by a sparse housing inventory, growing financial challenges for buyers are forcing home sellers to cut prices to close deals, a new Redfin research report found. home sale price rose 3% year over year, reaching $420,846 in August, the largest annual increase since October 2022. According to the brokerage, 6.5%

Sellers 505
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The awesome power of high mortgage rates

Housing Wire

Housing professionals already know that high mortgage rates are bad for business. But with mortgage rates ascending past 7% according to HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center , those hopes have so far been dashed in 2024. Bad for sellers Prospective home sellers may not notice incremental changes in mortgage rates.

Mortgage 409
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Mortgage rates helped by the Fed’s moderate stance

Housing Wire

Mortgage rates had a chance to break to new highs this year, but the Federal Reserve took a moderate tone at the last Fed meeting. We saw the benefit of lower mortgage rates with the last two existing home sales reports, which showed growth. Then mortgage rates rose, facilitating five weeks of negative purchase application data.

Mortgage 513
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Assumable mortgages grow in  popularity, but hurdles remain

Housing Wire

The elevated interest rate environment has brought an old product, the assumable mortgage, back into fashion. Assumable mortgages remain a niche market compared to new mortgage issuance. An assumable mortgage enables qualified buyers to take over the seller’s mortgage terms, including the existing balance and interest rate.

Mortgage 391
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Why is housing inventory growing with higher mortgage rates?

Housing Wire

The mortgage rate lockdown premise says that if rates rise, inventory can’t grow meaningfully. The idea is that nobody will trade their low mortgage rates to buy another home — even though this happened every week last year. With mortgage rates higher, will this stop inventory from growing year over year?

Inventory 534