Housing markets

Also, Wells Fargo, Finance of America entered into partnerships affecting real estate tax and cybersecurity solutions.

Follow-through has been weak, but there's hope lower mortgage rates could improve conditions, according to new housing reports from Redfin and MBS Highway.

With a scarcity of listings driving high home prices, both repeat and new purchasers are putting the most money down in decades, the report found.

The transactions grew between second and third quarter, with the new-home market seeing one of its largest surges in cash-buying in 13 years.

The share of residential property buyers that put themselves in the most optimistic category jumped notably in the latest edition of an RCN survey.

Public policy experts debated the effect of rising rates on the mortgage market, the impact on homebuyers and ways that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could exit conservatorship at the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference.

Even as Freddie Mac's survey put rates at their highest since December 2000, factors like rising oil prices and a government shutdown could slow the economy.

High mortgage rates and the lack of inventory for sale pushed the sector into a downturn twice recently - between May and November last year and in May of 2023 - according to First American

While the share is slightly lower than at the start of 2023, the market is not expected to slip back to lower pre-pandemic levels, CoreLogic said.

A shortage of listings has pushed up prices, boosting the total value of US homes to a record $47 trillion, Redfin reported. 

Renovations, already the leading use for these borrowings, increased their share to nearly two-thirds of the products' market, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Ten Western states that benefited from a pandemic-driven boom reported value declines in May, CoreLogic said.

Researchers at the government-sponsored enterprise also maintained their outlook for a modest recession but moved anticipated onset to the fourth quarter this year.

A larger share of sellers were optimistic in May, but the percentage of enthusiastic buyers fell, according to Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index.

Construction activity in smaller cities also saw a significant annual decline, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

But there are regional variations in housing markets across the country, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.

The Mortgage Bankers Association sees the likelihood of a rise in sales activity later this year based on recent construction trends, in a turnaround from the 2022 market.

Low interest rates on 2021 and 2022 mortgages might mean low prepayment rates, exposing investors to duration risk on supported mortgage-backed securities.

Home price overvaluations over 10% are easing in some markets, analysts say, but RMBS investors are still cautiously tightening liquidity amid uncertainty.

Housing costs increased at the slowest pace in over a decade nationwide, even while monthly growth now exceeds its pre-pandemic level.