The big mortgage rate drops that are helping the real estate industry ring in the new year shouldn’t be taken as a sign that home sellers will come out of the woodwork in 2024, the top economists at two mortgage market heavyweights say.
In its attempt to address the dire housing crisis, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering a policy that would surely make it worse and reduce the use of federal housing dollars.
Just as the salary needed to afford the median-priced home in Greater Boston jumped nearly 23 percent, the new tool is intended to match borrowers to down payment assistance programs.
The average long-term mortgage rate climbed further above 7 percent this week to its highest level since 2001, another blow to would-be homebuyers.
Rates are far from all-time highs, but it’s important to remember that as inflation cools, so might mortgage rates despite the Federal Reserve’s most recent interest rate decision.
Nonetheless, mortgage applications actually increased slightly from the prior week, driven by a rise in FHA and VA purchase applications.
Who’s on the move? From new VPs to fresh project managers, see who’s been hired, promoted and honored: It’s the latest edition of Banker & Tradesman’s Personnel File.
Saying it needs to modernize the way it values properties, Fannie Mae announced significant changes yesterday to the appraisal process for single-family mortgages it buys on the secondary market.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate declined for the fifth straight week, even as the Federal Reserve just raised its key borrowing rate for the seventh time this year and signaled there were more to come in 2023.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate ticked down for the third week in a row and have fallen more than a half-point since hitting a 20-year high less than a month ago.
In a move it said would boost lower-income Americans’ ability to buy homes, Freddie Mac said it would start including a review of a prospective homebuyer’s bank account as part of its review of whether or not to purchase a loan from a lender.
The mortgage market is in for another big shift in a few months. That’s when a sizable increase – roughly 12 percent or 13 percent – in the conforming loan limit appears likely to be announced.
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this week, hitting the highest levels in almost 14 years and pushing even more would-be buyers out of the market.
The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage has increased to the highest level since late June, according to Freddie Mac.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell below 5 percent for the first time in four months, days after the Federal Reserve jacked up its main borrowing rate in an aggressive effort to get inflation under control.
From new VPs to fresh project managers, see who’s been hired, promoted and honored: it’s The Personnel File.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shut many self-employed buyers out during the pandemic. But now, those rules are gone and some lenders, perhaps sensing a grand opportunity to boost market share, are targeting gig workers directly.
Even as mortgage interest rates hit levels not seen since the fall of 2009, early indications show America’s prospective homebuyers appear to be adapting, not quitting the market.
Demand for purchase mortgages appears to be holding steady even as interest rates rapidly rose to nearly 4.5 percent over the last month.
Vice President Kamala Harris will announce an action plan to stop racial discrimination in the appraisal of home values, according to senior Biden administration officials.
