January Housing Market Heating Up

Forget spring, January is the hottest month for homebuying, according to a report by CNBC.

CNBC’s Diana Olick said the “severe shortage of homes” has changed the enter housing calendar. 

She said April was the peak month for homebuying from 2015-2018, with January lagging 18%. However, January was the busiest month for searches in 20 of the 100 largest metros. This was true for just three metros in 2018. 

Among the markets that are seeing an uptick in January was Atlanta, Georgia, and Melissa Fuentes of Royale Park Group said she has received 30% more calls already. 

“It’s a race out here,” she said. 

Olick said the number of homes for sale in November was down 9.5% year-over-year and the supply for homes below $200,000 was down 16%. 

Showing the heightened increase for the month, the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed mortgage applications for the week ending on January 10 rose 30.2% from the prior week. 

Joel Kan, AVP of Economic and Industry Forecasting, commented on this positive showing to kick off the new year: "The mortgage market saw a strong start to 2020. Applications increased across the board, and the 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit its lowest level since September 2019.”

The report revealed mortgage activity rose to 62.9% of total applications, up from the 58.9% that was posted just a week prior. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) rose as well, accounting for 4.5% of the total applications. The FHA rose to 12.7%, while the VA fell, posting 12.1% of total applications. As for the USDA, its percentage of total applications remained static.