Housing markets

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage, the movements of which have been volatile in recent weeks, is expected to stay in the range of 6.5% for the first half of the year before trending down, Freddie Mac said.

Fannie Mae's latest forecast now predicts rates to be half a percentage point higher, and volume to be $1.5 trillion lower than previously expected in 2024.

Prices in several cities came in more than 20% above what would be considered a sustainable level when compared to local economic factors, according to the rating agency's report.

Loan volumes fell for the third straight week, with depressed demand for government lending driving activity downward, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

A potential buyer with a budget of $3,000 per month for their payments is now able to afford an approximately $453,000 home.

Lending activity among builders surged over 22% annually in December, but the growing share of FHA-backed borrowing in the segment took a step back for the first time in four months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The segment demonstrated sustained resilience in the third quarter, growing its share of the market each month amid rate volatility, according to Corelogic.

The city claims it can build the rental units quicker through this mechanism rather than low income housing tax credits.

Values declined in two regions and were flat in two others, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index measures a period when 30-year mortgage rates were climbing toward 8%, shutting out increasing numbers of would-be homebuyers.

Heightened government-backed activity also helped bring the average loan size down to its lowest mark in 2023, with purchase amounts falling below $400,000 for the first time since January, the Mortgage Bankers Association found.

Purchases of new single-family homes decreased 5.6% to a 679,000 annualized pace last month, government data showed Monday.

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