CompaniesBIO

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in September for the eighth month in a row, matching the pre-pandemic sales pace from 10 years ago, as house hunters grappled with sharply higher mortgage rates, rising home prices and a still tight supply of properties on the market. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that existing home sales fell 1.5% last month from August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.71 million. That’s slightly higher than what economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Sales fell 23.8% from September last year, and are now at the slowest annual pace since September 2012, excluding the steep slowdown in sales that occurred in May 2020 near the start of the pandemic. The national median home price rose 8.4% in September from a year earlier to $384,800. The housing market has been slowing this year because of rising mortgage rates. The average rate on a 30-year home loan rose to 6.94% this week, the highest rate since April 2002, accordi...

Mortgage demand dropped again last week as rates climbed higher, but adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, which offer lower rates , are seeing renewed demand after getting very little interest over the last decade. Total mortgage application volume dropped 2% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index, a consequence of surging rates. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 6.81% from 6.75%, with points increasing to 0.97 from 0.95 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. That is the highest rate since 2006. How to navigate the housing market roller coaster and ease stress Oct. 7, 2022 03:02 “The news that job growth and wage growth continued in September is positive for the housing market, as higher incomes support housing demand. However, it also pushed off the possibility of any near-term pivot f...

The average 30-year mortgage rate has climbed to 6.02% — the first time the figure has surpassed 6% since 2008, according to new data from mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The new rate level — double what it was this time last year — is an effect of the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign to raise interest rates as it works to fight inflation. The impact of higher rates will be to reduce housing demand and put downward pressure on home prices , Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said in a statement. Yet thanks to a nationwide housing shortage, property values will not fall very much, Khater said. The median price for existing homes rose 10.8% in July from a year earlier to $403,800, the National Association of Realtors said last month. “Home prices are still rising by double-digit percentages year-over-year, but annual price appreciation should moderate to the typical rate of 5% by the end of this year and into 2023,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “With mortgage ra...

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The U.S. economy will need tight monetary policy “for some time” before inflation is under control, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday in remarks that warned of slower growth, a weaker job market and “some pain” for households and businesses. “Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth. Moreover, there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions. While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses,” Powell said in a speech kicking off the Jackson Hole central banking conference in Wyoming. “These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.” As that pain increases, Powell said, people should not expect the Fed to dial back its monetary policy quickly until the inflation problem is fixed. Some investors anticip...

Rising mortgage rates and inflation in the wider economy caused housing demand to drop sharply in June, forcing home prices to cool down. Home prices are still higher than they were a year ago, but the gains slowed at the fastest pace on record in June, according to Black Knight, a mortgage software , data and analytics firm that began tracking this metric in the early 1970s. The annual rate of price appreciation fell two percentage points from 19.3% to 17.3%. Price gains are still strong because of an imbalance between supply and demand. The housing market has had a severe shortage for years. Strong demand during the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated it. Even when home prices crashed dramatically during the recession of 2007-09, the strongest single-month slowdown was 1.19 percentage points. Prices are not expected to fall nationally, given a stronger overall housing market, but higher mortgage rates are certainly taking their toll. What does a low mortgage demand mean for buyers, s...