According to the latest data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) the share of adults planning a home purchase in the next 12 months dropped to 13% in the final quarter of 2022. This is down from 15% in the previous quarter and is not surprising, given that housing affordability worsened during this period, as mortgage interest rates surpassed 7.0% and reached levels not seen in nearly 20 years.
In a very interesting and fact filled article on cnbc.com they share that “Debt has surged over the past year due to inflation running near its highest pace in more than 40 years and amid rising interest rates and strong consumer demand.”
Residential Purchase Mortgage Applications posted the largest increase since early July, which many sources say is a result of increased inventory and slightly reduced mortgage interest rates.
Many people working in the real estate and mortgage industry, as well as those considering buying or selling real estate, are watching the news and reports on expected changes from the Federal Reserve.
CNBC conducted a survey and share the results in this article written by Steve Liesman for CNBC:
It is well known that home sales and mortgage loan statistics have reached and surpassed historic performance. With a variety of sources for how these statistics are tracked, it can become confusing to understand.
MortgageNewsDaily.com reports that according to Ice Mortgage Technology (formerly Ellie Mae), in their Loan Origination Report for January, “closed loans continued to show declining note rates in January, dropping from an average of 2.93 percent in December to 2.88 percent” and also includes “Interest rates continued to decline in January, driving up the share of refinances by seven percent,”
There is a lot of talk and prediction about the future of mortgage interest rates and home sales prices. The variables that lie in the future for both of these topics will happen. What does this mean for those of us who are considering refinancing or purchasing a home? It means that interest rates and home prices may go up or may go down.
The Builder Confidence Index has been in existence for 35 years as a gauge of Builders confidence in the future of single-family home sales. The Index matched the all time record high from 1998.
A recent article by CNBC.com provides an excellent overview of the details that report a historic increase in existing home sales in June over May. The key points they present include respected sources like the National Association of Realtors:
The impacts of the current Pandemic social distancing orders and essential only travel bans has affected all of our lives in different ways.