Housing Wire
DECEMBER 10, 2021
As we approach the end of another hot year for the market, homebuyers and sellers are eagerly looking ahead to the 2022 housing market. Will the market continue its streak of strong growth, or are we finally about to see a slow down? Here’s a high-level forecast for what to expect next year, based on the supply and demand signals we can already see in today’s data.
Housing Wire
DECEMBER 20, 2021
Most of the time, the economy is like a slow-moving ocean liner that changes direction gradually and without much effort. But when a new, powerful variable presents itself, like the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the economy can change on a dime. COVID was a veritable iceberg for our ocean liner economy, but the ship did not go down! Even in the extreme conditions of COVID-19, my general premise on housing economics predicted that the two variables with the most influence — demographics and mortga
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Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 11, 2021
You could buy a top-of-the-line laptop and a new cell phone to match, or you could pay one month’s rent for a single-family home in Los Angeles. It’s not much better for prospective single-family renters across California, a study by HouseCanary found. In Ventura or Carlsbad, median single-family rents are $4,250, and in Santa Clara and Berkeley, median single-family rents reached $4,225 and $4,200, respectively.
Housing Wire
DECEMBER 9, 2021
Mortgage rates decreased one basis point to 3.10% in the week ending Dec. 9, remaining low and stable despite tighter housing supply and affordability, according to the latest Freddie Mac PMMS mortgage report. A year ago at this time, the average 30-year fixed-rate loan averaged just 2.71%, according to the report published on Thursday. Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement that rates have moved sideways over the last several weeks, fluctuating within a narrow range.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 22, 2021
Real estate investors are buying more properties, but paying less for them, according to a report from RealtyTrac released Thursday based on ATTOM Data Solutions home sales data. In the second quarter of 2021, investor purchases accounted for 15.4% of all home purchases nationwide, compared with 11.5% of all home purchases a year prior. Despite such a large year-over-year change, it is still slightly lower than Q1 2021 , in which investors held 15.9% of the market.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 8, 2021
Skyrocketing U.S. home prices are quickly shifting the affordability calculus for prospective homebuyers in 2021 — even though mortgage rates have remained near record lows. The median home price nationwide in August increased 14.9% from a year ago to $356,700, according to the National Association of Realtors. August marked the sixth consecutive month where median home prices increased by double-digit percentages from a year ago.
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Realtor
FEBRUARY 11, 2021
marchmeena29/Getty Images It’s a big question with no easy answer: Should you keep renting, or is it time to think about buying a home? One of the major benefits of being a homeowner is building equity with each mortgage payment, instead of putting money into your landlord’s pocket. But that doesn’t mean buying is always the best choice—as a renter, you enjoy more flexibility and avoid many of the costs that come with homeownership.
Urban
JULY 23, 2021
Assistance could be a lifeline for many tenants and landlords, providing vital funding for much-needed preservation of their homes and properties.
BiggerPockets
APRIL 22, 2021
Your ability to qualify for a mortgage hinges on your home appraisal—so how can you maximize your home's value? Here, learn how to challenge a low appraisal and get the highest valuation possible.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 1, 2021
With mortgage rates falling during the COVID-19 crisis, many households were able to refinance to lower payments. Because a mortgage payment is almost always the most prominent payment households make each month, lower payments have allowed homeowners who bought homes to have better cash flow over the last few years. This means mortgage holders who have refinanced their homes to lower payments while their wages have also grown look great on paper.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 5, 2021
Nearly one quarter of U.S. home sellers received four or more offers on their home in 2021, according to Zillow’s latest consumer housing trends report. The rise in the number of homes that received multiple offers is reflected in the increased frequency of bidding wars in 2021. Typical sellers received two offers, which is the same as the past three years.
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 11, 2021
For the second month in a row, national housing affordability improved in August, according to the latest National Association of Realtors housing affordability index report. This improvement came as monthly mortgage payments fell by 1.1% while median family income fell by 0.7%. As of August 2021, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 2.89% compared to 3% a year prior.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 23, 2021
Homeowners with mortgages gained $2.9 trillion in equity in the second quarter of 2021, a 29.3% year-over-year increase, according to a new report by CoreLogic released Wednesday. This marks an average gain of $51,500(!) per borrower since the second quarter of 2020. The amount of equity for a property is determined by comparting the estimated current value of the property against the mortgage debt outstanding (MDO).
Housing Wire
AUGUST 30, 2021
The Sunshine State seems to be getting a lot more foot traffic these days, with the number of homebuyers moving to Miami tripling year-over-year, a new analysis found. According to Redfin ’s monthly migration report, July saw the net inflow of Redfin users packing their bags and moving to Miami rise to 7,610, up from 2,216 last year. Milagros Alvarez, a Miami real estate agent at Redfin, said that the pandemic “has brought even more out-of-towners to the area” because so many people can no
Housing Wire
AUGUST 20, 2021
Have you ever considered the median age of homeowners in your area? According to a study conducted by LendingTree, homeowners gravitate towards specific parts of the country depending on their age. Millennial buyers, for instance, are more prominent in Colorado while older buyers are more likely to put down roots in Ohio. . These are the places with the oldest average homeowners: 1.
Housing Wire
SEPTEMBER 7, 2021
One year ago this month, I coined the term forbearance crash bros , an updated name for the housing bubble boys who never got their housing crash in 2020 so they moved the collapse of housing to 2021. Many other articles were written in tribute to this wonderfully talented group of internet crash callers. As we are in September 2021, we can safely say the housing crash has been moved once again to next year.
Housing Wire
JULY 29, 2021
The interagency task force to combat inequity in appraisals, led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, will be co-chaired by former United Nations ambassador Susan Rice. A former national security advisor in the Obama administration, Rice now chairs President Joe Biden’s Domestic Policy Council , which has broad authority to further the president’s domestic agenda.
Housing Wire
AUGUST 3, 2021
When you hear people say that the current housing market is like 2008 all over again, you may want to remind them of the huge differences between this market and that one. The previous economic expansion, from 2010-2019, wasn’t a housing bubble. Quite the opposite: In that cycle we had the weakest housing recovery ever, even with the lowest mortgage rates during the longest economic expansion ever.
Housing Wire
JULY 28, 2021
The 2021 RealTrends Gathering of Eagles real estate conference captured our attention when the role and future of the real estate transaction process for a homebuyer were lively debated. Big players such as Zillow, Redfin, Compass… etc. claim dominance. We examine the need for complete vendor-provided software solutions vs. building in-house. We watch as consolidation transpires all-around.
Housing Wire
JULY 16, 2021
Cash buyers are pouring into the housing market this year, and they’re picking off more than half of available inventory in certain areas in Florida and New York. As of July 14, nearly one-third of U.S. home purchases this year were paid with just cash — 30%, specifically — according to a recent Redfin study. That represents the largest share since 2014, when 30.6% of homes were purchased with all cash.
Housing Wire
JULY 16, 2021
Home sales fell 1.2% from May to June, the largest drop at this time of year on record since at least 2012, according to a new Redfin study released this week. The national median home-sale price hit a record high of $386,888, up 25% year over year, but a slight decline from the record of 26% in May. The number of homes for sale fell 28% year over year from 2020, and the typical home sold in just 14 days — a record low and, down from 39 days in June 2020.
Housing Wire
JUNE 10, 2021
It’s no secret that buying a home takes time and money. Well, it turns out, so does selling a home. According to Zillow and Thumbtack’s Hidden Costs of Selling Analysis , the average homeowner spends over $15,000 in “hidden costs” to sell their home. . While a real estate agent’s commission is one of the most expensive costs, it definitely isn’t the only one.
Housing Wire
JUNE 7, 2021
During the previous economic expansion from 2008 to 2019, the housing market was subject to the constant refrain of build more homes. Building more homes, it was said, would solve all sorts of social problems, from making homeownership more affordable to ending homelessness. Today we are perhaps less prone to believing that a glut of new homes is the panacea society is waiting for, but the siren call to build more homes continues to be broadcast by a host of housing pundits and social do-gooders
Housing Wire
JUNE 1, 2021
The world has been dealing with a significant health crisis since the beginning of 2020. This has provided the American bear troll crowd numerous opportunities to pontificate about a likely long-lasting depression. If you bought into the theories being peddled by this crash-cult crowd (who, by the way, have been infecting the discourse of economics since the creation of social media and YouTube channels) then you would have believed that the second housing market bubble crash was imminent during
Housing Wire
JUNE 7, 2021
United Wholesale Mortgage has been aggressively price-cutting loans to put pressure on competitors for months now. It appears they’ve just thrown gas on the fire in the hopes of boosting their second quarter numbers, while hitting their rivals ahead of earnings call season. UWM said on Monday that they’ll price-match any conventional loan on primary residences up to 35 basis points with that of 15 different competitors: Caliber Home Loans , Cardinal Financial , Citizens Bank , Financ
Housing Wire
OCTOBER 14, 2021
Young people make up a smaller share of recent homebuyers than in previous years most likely due to the increased market activity of baby boomers, a new Zillow report published on Thursday found. It’s hardly breaking news that the demand for housing has drastically increased over the past 18 months, but the report suggests that this has more to do with demographic trends than the pandemic.
Housing Wire
MAY 7, 2021
The booming real estate market has created a high demand for appraisal services. This is good news for lenders, but it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on appraisers who have to be diligent in their work, while also meeting closing dates. HousingWire recently spoke with PCV Murcor Founder, President and CEO Keith Murray and COO Cindy Nasser on how the appraisal process can be streamlined in today’s tight housing market. .
Housing Wire
MAY 18, 2021
Skyrocketing prices for lumber, appliances and other building materials continue to handcuff new housing starts all over the country. Single-family housing starts in April dropped 13.4% from March to a rate of 1.09 million, according to the most recent study from the U.S. Census Bureau. Housing completions were at a rate of 1.045 million in April, just 0.1% above the March rate of 1.04 million — proof that builders are delaying housing starts due to the marked increase in costs for lumber and ot
Housing Wire
AUGUST 30, 2021
Remember that pretty girl from your history class in college — the one who would blow hot and cold, so you never really knew what she was thinking? The U.S. housing market can be like that girl: you can get many mixed messages (especially about a housing bubble) unless you are paying attention. But who has time for that? Hey, that’s all I do, so you’ve come to the right place.
Housing Wire
JULY 12, 2021
This is the first time I am writing about mortgage backed securities (MBS) because I hardly ever consider this aspect of the housing ecosystem in my work. But since now even Federal Reserve members are discussing the pros and cons of MBS, this is a good time to give you my take. The 10-year yield has been in a downtrend since 1981, and so have mortgage rates, so the MBS market hasn’t eve been a focus of mine.
Housing Wire
APRIL 15, 2021
Consumers have been closely following President Joe Biden’s proposed first-time homebuyer tax credit , but the newest form of that proposal has several significant restrictions. The latest draft of a down-payment assistance bill would provide $25,000 to first-time homebuyers, but only those who are also first-generation homebuyers and economically disadvantaged.
Housing Wire
APRIL 16, 2021
Housing starts jumped in March, recovering from a bleak February that included wild winter storms in the South, according to a recent report from the Census Bureau. Single-family housing starts rose 15.3% over the month to a pace of 1.24 million annualized units. That’s up 37% from a year ago, but it’s important to take into account that the COVID-19 virus first took hold of the housing market in March 2020, said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The March pace was t
Housing Wire
APRIL 7, 2021
In what will be known to future generations as the Great Reshuffling, a recent Zillow survey showed that more than 1 in 10 Americans reported moving in the past 12 months, either by choice or by circumstance. And now, with the COVID-19 vaccine circulating and the economy slowly regaining strength, Zillow researchers say millions of additional households could enter the housing market in 2021.
Housing Wire
NOVEMBER 26, 2021
Life comes at you fast. During this Thanksgiving week, we went from higher yields and the first Fed rate hike storyline to a big drop in bond yields and scary headlines on a new COVID variant, Omicron. How do we make sense of all this? In this type of economic environment is it even possible for mortgage rates to get to 4% and can the Federal Reserve really hike rates in an aggressive fashion?
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