Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Before their spring meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee moved to hold interest rates steady. Click through for commentary on the news.

Despite mortgage rates steadily falling over the last month of 2023, overall mortgage application volume slipped nearly 10% over a two-week span to close out the rollercoaster ride that was the housing market of 2023.

“Last week’s comments by Chairman Powell, as well as the Federal Reserve’s updated Summary of Economic Projections, suggest increased Fed confidence that a soft landing has been achieved and inflation is headed sustainably to 2%,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s SVP and Chief Economist.

The average down payment now takes nearly 7.5 years to save up, and the effect that stat is having on the market is adding to the number of cost-burdened Americans nationwide.

As widely expected by many, the Federal Open Market Committee chose to leave the nominal interest rate alone moving into next year, based on a litany of data.

The nation’s housing outlook depends largely on the economy and inflation, analysts say, as the industry closes the book on 2023 and approaches the new year.

As Americans hold tightly to their low mortgage rates, more than 90% of homeowners remain financially disincentivized from selling their homes, as it would cost more to borrow the same amount of money they owe on their current mortgage. A new study from First American dives into the situation.

It’s a chicken-or-egg situation for homebuyers and sellers. Demand is rising partly due to an uptick in new listings, and listings are increasing partly because sellers are noticing more buyers enter the market.

"There's tremendous difficulty in the commercial real estate market with higher interest rates," said Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors. But are there changes on the horizon?

Driven by increased activity in the jumbo mortgage market, the MBA reported mortgage credit availability on the rise to begin Q4, as lenders have begun to offer more ARM products to offset mortgage rates that reached nearly 8% in the second half of October.