The housing market continues to face challenges as we move into the summer months. Despite high home prices and increasing mortgage rates, the demand for mortgages remains stagnant. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, total mortgage application volume saw a minimal increase of just 0.8% from the previous week. This lackluster growth reflects the ongoing
Real Estate
The trend of smaller new homes is on the rise, with newly built single-family homes coming in at a median of 2,140 square feet in the first quarter of 2024. This is a decrease from the previous year’s median of 2,256 square feet, marking the smallest new homes since the second half of 2009. The
The real estate market in April saw yet another record-breaking surge in home prices, with a 6.3% increase compared to the previous year. This growth occurred despite a sharp rise in the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage, jumping from 6.9% to 7.5% in April. Despite conventional wisdom suggesting that rising mortgage rates would
Finding the right location to buy a home is crucial for many Americans, and recent data published by NBC News sheds light on the least difficult places to purchase a home in the U.S. According to the NBC News Home Buyer Index, several counties stand out for their affordability, competition levels, scarcity, and economic stability.
The National Association of Home Builders has reported a significant increase in the construction of built-for-rent single-family homes in the U.S. According to experts, this growth is strongly linked to the current housing affordability crisis, where escalating mortgage rates are making it increasingly difficult for individuals to purchase homes, pushing them towards the rental market.
The latest drop in mortgage rates did not seem to have a significant impact on consumer behavior. Despite the decrease in the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the total mortgage application volume only rose by 0.9% compared with the previous week. This indicates that consumers were largely unimpressed by the rate reduction.