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Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 7.10 percent. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage surpassed 7 percent for the first time this year, jumping from 6.88 percent to 7.10 percent this week,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “As rates trend higher, potential homebuyers are deciding whether to buy before rates rise even more or hold off in hopes of decreases later in the year. Last week, purchase applications rose modestly, but it remains unclear how many homebuyers can withstand increasing rates in the future.” News Facts The 30-year FRM averaged 7.10 percent as of April 18, 2024, up from last week when it averaged 6.88 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.39 percent. The 15-year FRM averaged 6.39 percent, up from last week when it averaged 6.16 percent. A…
Existing-home sales slipped in March, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Among the four major U.S. regions, sales slid in the Midwest, South and West, but rose in the Northeast for the first time since November 2023. Year-over-year, sales decreased in all regions. Total existing-home sales[i] – completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – receded 4.3% from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million in March. Year-over-year, sales waned 3.7% (down from 4.35 million in March 2023). “Though rebounding from cyclical lows, home sales are stuck because interest rates have not made any major moves,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “There are nearly six million more jobs now compared to pre-COVID highs, which suggests more aspiring home buyers exist in the market.” Total housing inventory[ii] registered at the end of March was 1.11 million units, up 4.7% from February and 14.4%…
![21% of Mortgage Offers Went to Gen X Homebuyers in 2023 [New LendingTree Report] [New LendingTree Report]](/media/k2/items/cache/52b224be2921066656928bea6ef1574e_S.jpg)
Many members of Generation X — born between 1965 and 1980 — are well into their middle age. While most Gen Xers aren’t house hunting, they make up a notable chunk of homebuyers in today’s expensive housing market. To highlight where Gen Xers are looking to buy, we analyzed mortgage offers given to users of our online shopping platform across the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas in 2023. Here's what we found. Across the nation’s 50 largest metros, 21.25% of mortgage offers in 2023 on the LendingTree platform went to Gen Xers. Gen Xers made up the largest share of potential homebuyers in Miami, Riverside, Calif., and Las Vegas. In Miami, 27.43% of mortgage offers made on the LendingTree platform went to Gen Xers. The shares in Riverside and Las Vegas were 27.14% and 27.07%, respectively. Gen Xers made up the smallest share of potential buyers in Buffalo, N.Y., Salt Lake…
Nationwide, one-third of homeowners who lost insurance have moved or plan to move, but nearly the same share are staying in their home with little or no coverage Nearly three-quarters (70.3%) of Florida homeowners and over half (51%) of California homeowners say they or the area they live in has been affected by rising home insurance costs or changes in coverage (e.g., their insurer dropped them) in the past year. That compares with less than half (44.6%) of homeowners nationwide, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. This report is based on a Redfin-commissioned survey by Qualtrics in February 2024. The nationally representative survey was fielded to 2,995 U.S. homeowners and renters. Insurance is top of mind for homeowners in Florida and California because those states are the epicenters of the insurance housing crisis. Many homeowners have seen their premiums skyrocket, and some have…
Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) Multifamily today announced a series of policy and process enhancements that further strengthen underwriting due diligence, bolster fraud detection and deterrence, and mitigate other risks. Effective April 18, the changes include enhanced property inspection requirements and additional due diligence, among other measures. "Freddie Mac remains focused on risk management and works to enhance our processes to better detect and deter fraud and misrepresentation,” said Ian Ouwerkerk, senior vice president of Multifamily Underwriting & Credit. “We take these issues seriously, and these enhancements are just the latest step in our effort to manage risk and improve our execution." The enhancements will appear in Freddie Mac’s Multifamily Seller/Servicer Guide (“Guide”) and take effect on April 18. They specifically include the following: Property inspections will require an increased number of unit inspections and higher lease audit sample sizes. Additional documentation will be required for lease audits to confirm actual tenant…
The buzzwords of today’s digital age are ‘AI’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence.’ These excite some and strike fear into others. Yet whatever your position, this Hard Trend is undeniable and will shape the future of your business or organization in some way. Applications like ChatGPT, deep data algorithms, and others are changing the face of work and how we approach business practices at an unprecedented speed. So what does that mean for the roles we have at work? Better yet, how do employers acquire talent with the skills necessary to keep operations progressing into the future? And finally, how do employees adapt when many of the tasks they are used to completing are being transformed by AI? AI Is Moving Fast Organizations and employees alike find comfort in their tried-and-true operations, but the business world is never constant — change is the only constant. According to a recent report completed by Goldman Sachs, 60% of the…
Lack of affordability is the most commonly cited reason renters don’t believe they’ll ever own a home Nearly two in five (38%) U.S. renters don’t believe they’ll ever own a home, up from roughly one-quarter (27%) less than a year ago, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Lack of affordability is the prevailing reason renters believe they’re unlikely to become homeowners. Nearly half (44%) of renters who don’t believe they’ll buy a home in the near future said it’s because available homes are too expensive. The next most common obstacles: Ability to save for a down payment (35%), ability to afford mortgage payments (33%) and high mortgage rates (32%). Roughly one in eight (14%) simply aren’t interested in owning a home. This is according to a Redfin-commissioned survey of roughly 3,000 U.S. residents, including about 1,000 renters, conducted by Qualtrics in February 2024.…
Nearly 20% of recent buyers have no idea who paid their agent and how the amount was determined 39% of homeowners with plans to sell think a 3% buyer’s agent commission seems high, but nearly the same share think it seems just about right More than one-quarter of recent homebuyers (28%) have no idea how much their agent was paid, and 17% have no idea how the amount was determined, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com). A similar share—19%—have no idea who paid their agent. The report is based on a Redfin-commissioned survey conducted by Qualtrics in February 2024. The nationally representative survey was fielded to 2,995 U.S. homeowners and renters. This report focuses on the roughly 120 respondents who indicated they bought a home in the last year and used an agent. Just over one-third of recent homebuyers know exactly how much their agent was paid (37%)…
-- Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.88 percent. “Mortgage rates have been drifting higher for most of the year due to sustained inflation and the reevaluation of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “While newly released inflation data from March continues to show a trend of very little movement, the financial market’s reaction paints a far different economic picture. Since inflation decelerated from 9% to 3% between June 2022 and June 2023, the annual growth rate of inflation has remained effectively flat, ranging from 3.1% to 3.7% and averaging 3.3%. The March estimate of 3.5% annual growth is in the middle of that range. However, the market’s reaction was dramatically different, as illustrated by a significant drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average post-announcement.” Khater continued,…
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Has this ever described your day? You wake up in the morning rested and excited about your day. After doing yoga/gratitude journal/a walk (or whatever self-care you enjoy most), and eating a healthy breakfast, you head to your desk, ready to tackle the day. You quickly deal with new emails and issues that need resolved, then focus on your prospecting calls. Next, it’s time for your first appointment, and you arrive 15 minutes early. After that, you pick up a salad and head to the park to enjoy your lunchbreak on a beautiful day. Feeling energized, you handle your afternoon appointments and a scheduled closing. After handing over the keys to your excited new home buyers, you arrive home feeling happy that you were able to help someone’s dream come true. After a relaxing evening as you get ready for bed, you are filled with gratitude that you work in…
When it comes to the concept of disruptions in this world, we tend to focus on all the new digital tools that are creating ripples in headlines. From generative AI to digital currency, these digital disruptions are definitely leaving their impact. But instead, the focus of today should be on the very concept of disruption itself, not just digital disruption. The word “disruption” is a key stumbling point for many. Having worked with businesses and organizations of varying sizes worldwide, what I have discovered is that while most have a heavy focus on digital disruptions, others do not consider the many other disruptions this world is throwing our way. To help the world while leveraging disruptions, we must better understand the term “transformation” as well. What we are aiming to do is transform the world instead of merely changing it. In today’s world of accelerating disruptions of any kind, if you are only aiming…
Sometimes you say something and you later regret having said it. Sometimes you think you are helping, but then say something that only makes things worse! We have all been in or seen that situation and understand how it happens. But when the person who says it is in a position of power, it can really have drastic consequences. In the past few days, we saw just that, the president was out on a campaign event and said that he was pretty sure the FED would be cutting rates soon. While he smiled, the markets knew that this was going to become an issue! The FED has always tried to maintain at least the appearance of being apolitical and independent. The job is to navigate the economy without yielding to political pressure. While not easy, it becomes even more challenging in a presidential election year and it’s the president suggesting…
![Despite Rising Home Prices, Homeownership Rates Keep Increasing [New LendingTree Report]](/media/k2/items/cache/3100be4da07dc9080d0f1b53f3799be4_S.jpg)
While U.S. home prices have come down from recent highs, they remain relatively steep. Despite this, homeownership rates have gone up in recent years. More specifically, according to a LendingTree analysis of the latest housing data, the share of owner-occupied homes in the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas increased by 108 basis points from 2012 to 2022. In other words, our findings indicate that even though home values in some areas have more than doubled since 2012, more people have become homeowners. As of 2022, almost 43.5 million of the 70.4 million occupied housing units in the nation’s 50 largest metros were owner-occupied. The overall homeownership rate across these metros is 61.72%. Homeownership rates are highest in the Detroit, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh metros. The homeownership rates in these metros are 71.49%, 70.54% and 70.45%, respectively. Homeownership rates are lowest in the Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego metros. At 47.94%, Los Angeles…
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