Monthly Archives: October 2024

In a fast moving market, home buyers have to make big decisions quickly. Spend too much time deliberating over whether or not to make an offer and you may just lose your chance. That’s been the case in recent years, and certainly during the pandemic. Too few homes for sale combined with a surge of interested buyers meant a good home for sale could be off the market in a matter of days. That’s why it’s good news for buyers that inventory has since improved and, according to one recent analysis, so has the amount of time the typical home spends on the market. In fact, the data shows this September was the slowest since 2019, with homes for sale typically spending 55 days on the market. That’s two days slower than August and a full week slower than last September. It’s also an encouraging sign for buyers hoping for a less stressful – and more successful – home shopping experience. (source)

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, average mortgage rates were relatively flat last week, remaining near recent lows despite a slight increase across all loan categories, including 30-year fixed-rate loans with both conforming and jumbo balances, loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, 15-year fixed-rate loans, and 5/1 ARMs. Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, says rates moved higher but so has purchase demand. “Mortgage rates were up modestly, with the 30-year mortgage rate increasing slightly … With this move, refinance application volume declined on the week but remains almost three-times as high as last year’s pace” Fratantoni said. “The news for the week was that more home buyers appear to be entering the market. Purchase application activity was up for the week and increased more than 9 percent compared to last year at this time.” The MBA’s weekly survey has been conducted since 1990 and covers 75 percent of all retail residential mortgage applications. (source)

Before closing on a house, it’s important to find out as much about it as you can. That’s why scheduling an inspection is typically among the first things buyers do after having their offer accepted. A buyer has to be sure the house is structurally sound and has no major issues. But while you can know a lot about a home’s structure and mechanical systems before committing to it, you can’t always know what the neighbors are like and how well you’ll get along with them – and sometimes that can be just as important as the structure and mechanical systems. A majority of Americans say good neighbors are a priority. In fact, according to one recent survey, a majority of Americans rate their prospective neighbors as a “high” or “very high” priority when choosing a place to live. The survey found 60 percent said living in a neighborly community with close-knit connections was important to them. Why are neighbors so important? Well, the survey found 65 percent of respondents said they feel they can count on their neighbors for help when needed. (source)

New home sales numbers are known to be volatile on a month-to-month basis. They’re also frequently revised. That’s certainly the case with the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Their latest New Residential Sales report shows the previous three months’ sales numbers were revised higher after their initial release. That means sales were better than reported. It also means the market for newly built single-family homes is on good footing and should see further gains as mortgage rates continue to improve. And while the month-over-month data shows sales down 4.7 percent in August from July, a look at the numbers from last year shows sales were almost 10 percent higher than August 2023. Additionally, the median price of new homes has fallen 4.6 percent over the past 12 months. (source)