Housing Market Turbulence: Affordability and Demand Drop Black Knight, Inc. released its Mortgage Monitor report, which shows an increase of $144 a month over the past 30 days in the principal and interest payment (P&I) for a median-priced home—-driving the total payment over $2,500 for the first time. Monthly P&I reached $2,567—an increase of $1,240 […]

It Costs 52% More to Buy a Home Today Than It Does to Rent Thanks to mortgage rates near 8%, the average monthly mortgage payment has increased to the point where it’s now 52% higher than the typical apartment rent. That’s according to data from commercial real estate firm CBRE. Articles in both the New York […]

Mortgage Rates Surge Lower After Fed Announcement, But Not Necessarily Because of It Today was “Fed day” and mortgage rates fell quite a bit. So it must have been due to the Fed announcement, right? Not exactly… The Fed helped, but more so by getting out of the way for a bond market that was […]

Home Prices Forecasts for 2024 are Divided Home prices have increased by 44% since March 2020. Add mortgage rates rising from 3% to 8%, and we’ve got what Lance Lambert describes as the “fastest-ever deterioration in housing affordability.” That said, what can we expect in the coming year, especially if rates do begin to drop […]

Barbara Corcoran Receives Backlash for Saying Now is the “Very Best Time” to Buy a House The queen of NY real estate, Shark Tank entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran has just said something about the housing market that—out of context—takes tone deafness to a new level. And she’s taking quite a bit of heat for it. On Monday, in […]

Buyers Turning to Family for House Solutions A survey from Realtor.com and Censuswide is shedding light on the growing number of prospective homebuyers moving in with relatives to cut costs and save for a home.  In fact, one-third of hopeful buyers have already moved in with parents or other family members, some because of recent return-to-office requirements and many […]

RFK Jr’s Plan to Fix the US Housing Affordability Crisis: Would it Work? Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who happens to be running for president in 2024, posted on X sharing his idea for alleviating the U.S. housing affordability crisis.  His idea? Tax-free, government-backed 3% mortgage bonds.  While lower mortgage rates are always desired, if rates are […]

Housing Affordability Hits its Lowest Point Since 2007 New reports from ATTOM and Redfin show just how much housing affordability has worsened compared to a year ago. With home prices rising and mortgage rates hovering around 7.5%, the share of the average income needed to cover the cost of homeownership has climbed to 35%,  That’s according to ATTOM’s Q3 2023 […]

Jerome Powell on Housing Supply and Lock in Effect During yesterday’s FOMC press conference, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced that the Fed chose to pause rate hikes, as expected by the majority of analysts.  While Powell spoke in length about the labor market and inflation, he also spoke about housing a total of five times […]

Unexpected Boost for Homebuyers in August The latest market report from Zillow shared some good news for buyers: a slight increase in new listings for August—which is a nice surprise given inventory typically drops during the end-of-summer slowdown.  It’s good to have options. And today’s homebuyers have had significantly fewer to choose from compared to a year […]