National News
Mortgage rates rose quickly last week. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 3.01%, up 0.13% from the week prior.
Expect a stable housing market over the next five years — despite the expiration of COVID-era protections — says a new Zillow report.
All four geographic regions saw increases, led by the Midwest, which clocked a 10.4% rise from July, and the South, where sales rose 8.6%. Pending transactions rose 7.2% in the West and 4.6% in the North.
A new report shows the market cooled in August, at least in terms of the number of prospective buyers looking at homes.
The 10-city composite index rose 1.4% on a monthly basis and 19.1% on a yearly basis, while the 20-city composite gained 1.5% monthly and 19.9% annually.
The Low-Income First Time Homebuyers Act (LIFT) establishes a program to sponsor 20-year mortgages that would build equity at twice the rate of a conventional 30-year mortgage.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 378,000, representing a supply of 6.1 months at the current sales rate.
Last year’s en-masse move to remote work has driven what Zillow has dubbed the Great Reshuffling, as homeowners working from home have paused and reevaluated where and how they live.
The increase was driven by a 21.6% month-over-month spike in the rate of new multifamily construction. Single-family housing starts, meanwhile, slid 2.8%.
September’s reading of 76 was up one point from August, despite lingering challenges with labor and the building-material supply chain, the National Association of Home Builders reported, citing the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.
Month over month, home sales were down 3.5%, and the median sale price declined 1.2% to $335,000.
The move marks the first step in the company’s plan to expand in the Southeast.
The Justice Department’s original complaint against the National Association of Realtors, filed Nov. 19, 2020, alleges that the association enforced rules and policies that illegally hampered competition in residential real estate services.
“The net result for housing is that these low and stable rates allow consumers more time to find the homes they are looking to purchase,” Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said.
A decline in new home listings has had little impact on the market as far as demand is concerned, according to a recent Redfin report.
Both existing-home sales and housing inventory fell during August in Atlanta. But housing starts are up.
