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Persistent Affordability Challenges Define 2025 Outlook The U.S. housing market is unlikely to see a significant rebound in 2025, according to the latest economic forecast from Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. The primary culprits: entrenched affordability challenges and what economists refer to as the “lock-in effect,” where existing homeowners with low mortgage...

Consumer Confidence on the Rise In a promising sign for the housing market, Fannie Mae’s November Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) rose to 75.0, continuing its steady climb and marking a 10.7-point increase year over year. While affordability remains a pressing concern, consumer sentiment has clearly improved, largely due to growing optimism that mortgage rates...

Mortgage Applications Surge After Rate Drop A slight decrease in mortgage rates spurred a significant uptick in homebuyer demand, with applications for home purchases rising by 12% from the previous week. This jump in demand reflects a growing eagerness among buyers, who had been waiting for lower mortgage rates or more housing inventory. According to...

Home Sales Bounce Back in October Homebuyers rushed to close deals in October, leading to a 3.4% increase in sales of previously owned homes compared to September. This rise brings the seasonally adjusted, annualized sales rate to 3.96 million units, marking a 2.9% year-over-year increase. This is the first time in over three years that...

Construction Input Costs Show Mixed Trends in October The cost of materials for new residential construction saw a notable increase in October 2024, while other construction costs, such as services, declined. The latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the price of inputs to residential construction (excluding...

Median Age of First-Time Homebuyers Reaches an All-Time High In 2024, the median age of first-time homebuyers has hit a record high of 38 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. This marks a significant shift from just a few decades ago when first-time buyers...

Freddie Mac Reports Modest Increase in Home Prices for September Freddie Mac’s National Home Price Index (FMHPI) rose by 0.28% in September, based on seasonally adjusted data. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, the FMHPI increased by 3.6%, marking a slight decrease from the 4.0% YoY growth recorded in August. While this marks a cooling in...

Surge in Mortgage Rates Amid Economic Data Mortgage rates have surged again, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbing to 6.92% as of October 23, 2024. This marks a significant increase of 72 basis points over the course of October, leaving homebuyers grappling with higher monthly payments. For example, a homebuyer purchasing a resale home...

Builder Sentiment Improves in October Builder confidence for newly built single-family homes has edged up for the second consecutive month in October, increasing by two points to a reading of 43 on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This improvement comes despite the ongoing challenges related to housing affordability, with inflation gradually easing and...

Surge in Mortgage Rate Optimism Drives Confidence Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) increased by 1.8 points in September, reaching 73.9, its highest level in over two years. This boost in housing sentiment comes as consumers reported record-high optimism regarding the future of mortgage rates, with 42% of respondents expecting mortgage rates to decrease...