As expected, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at its meeting last week, according to Jeff Cox of CNBC. After its two-day policy meeting, the Fed announced it would maintain its benchmark overnight borrowing rate of 5.25% to 5.5%. Additionally, Fed officials predicted three quarter-percentage point cuts by the end of 2024, which would be the first reductions since the …
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Investor activity
Thomas Malone of CoreLogic reports on investor activity, noting that as home flippers and larger investors take a backseat, smaller investors show resilience. In July, August, and September, investors purchased 26.8%, 27.2%, and 28%, respectively, of the share of single-family homes. Given this, CoreLogic expects to see these numbers climb above 30% in the near future. Source: CoreLogic (December 2023) “Smaller …
Lower rates in 2024?
Expect rate cuts in 2024, according to experts and the Federal Reserve. Logan Mohtashami of HousingWire comments, “[t]he Federal Reserve played the good grinch for Christmas this year and delivered the best gift for homebuyers nationwide, leading to lower mortgage rates. The 10-year yield and mortgage rates fell together after the Fed meetings, which gave us mortgage rates under …
Housing Affordability
New data from Jeff Tucker at Zillow highlights the ongoing challenges with housing affordability despite an ongoing moderation in housing prices. According to data, typical mortgage payments are now an astounding 75% higher than they were in June 2019. That said, home value growth is decelerating. “Affordability obstacles are the likely leading cause for decelerating home value growth. Annual home value …
Slow Housing Starts for Summer 2022
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that privately-owned housing starts in July sat at an annual rate of 1.446 million, a 9.6% month-over-month decrease and a drop of 8.1% year-over-year. This data highlights the ongoing struggle builders are having with material shortages and high interest rates. According to Logan Mohtashami of Housing Wire, this data shows that: Homebuilders are going to be …