Mortgage rates dropped again this week and have now remained below 3% for the last eight weeks, opening further opportunities for home buyers to lock in historically low rates.“The economy is recovering remarkably fast and as pandemic restrictions continue to lift, economic growth will remain strong over the coming months,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates
Existing homeowners may be feeling richer since they've received a notable boost to their home equity over the last year. Homeowners with a mortgage have seen their equity climb nearly 20% year over year, according to a new report from CoreLogic, a real estate research firm.In the first quarter of 2021, the average homeowner gained about $33,400 in equity over the past year, the study shows.Idaho, California, and Washington saw the largest equity
Million-dollar homes are not too uncommon in some markets, making them prime areas for real estate professionals to build a luxury real estate niche.Where are million-dollar houses most prevalent? The four areas with the highest percentage of million-dollar homes are in California, driven by a high concentration of wealth originating in the tech and entertainment industries, a new study from LendingTree notes. In San Jose, Calif., 47% of homes ar
Mortgage rates were on the rise last week but remained just below 3%, offering borrowers another opportunity to lock in historically low rates.Still, the National Association of REALTORS® cautions that borrowers should expect mortgage rates to increase modestly in the following months as the economy continues to recover. NAR forecasts the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to average 3.20% in 2021.“Home prices continue to accelerate while inventory r
The Federal Housing Finance Agency—the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—has extended pandemic-related forbearance options for multifamily properties until the end of September. This marks the third extension of the program, which most recently had been set to expire on June 30.Property owners with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac-backed multifamily mortgage can enter a new or modified forbearance if they experience a financial hardship due
Pandemic-related moratoriums on foreclosures and evictions are set to expire June 30, and some lenders plan to start resuming foreclosures in July. About 2.1 million homeowners are still in mortgage forbearance, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. As of April, about 1.8 million households who aren’t in forbearance were 90 days delinquent on their loan, according to Black Knight data.Bank of America says its suspension of foreclosures
Ultra-low mortgage rates returned this week, with lenders offering home buyers and refinancers a chance once again to lock in a rate below 3%. But the National Association of REALTORS® warns that these low rates in the 2% range won’t last much longer, and mortgage rates likely will edge up soon. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.95% this week, Freddie Mac reports.“Mortgage rates are continuing to offer many homeowners the potential
For the fourth consecutive month, lenders were able to speed up times to close, as timelines start to near pre-pandemic processing times.In April, the average days to close fell to 51; it was 52 days in March, according to ICE Mortgage Technology’s latest Origination Insight Report. That still remains higher than a year ago when the average was 42 days.Purchase mortgages showed the most improvement with closing times. The average time it took f
“Zombies foreclosures” are re-emerging in real estate. About 1.4 million residential properties in the U.S. were vacant in the second quarter—1.4% of all homes—a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions shows. That represents a nearly 28% increase compared to the first quarter, revealing a potential trend of more vacant, distressed properties hitting the market.However, zombie foreclosures are still down 13% compared to a year earlier and the
Millennials—people between the ages of 25 and 40—are a force in the overall housing market, but may be even more so among veterans. Millennials accounted for 50% of all Veterans Affairs–backed purchase loans in 2020, according to data from Veterans United.Veterans United data shows these are the top five hot spots where millennial military veterans purchased homes last year:Washington, D.C.Virginia Beach, Va.San DiegoColorado Springs, Colo.
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