buy cash a house freddie mac first look initiative

On average, homes sold in just 17 days of hitting the market last month. That’s an all-time high on data going back to 1999, NAR said. The median home price in March jumped 15% from a year ago at this time to $375,300. But higher rates also weaken their buying power.įor now, the housing market continues to favor sellers as buyers vie for fewer homes, which drives bidding wars, often pushing the sale price well above what the owner was asking. Higher rates can limit the pool of buyers and cool the rate of home price growth - good news for buyers. Rates are rising following a sharp move up in 10-year Treasury yields, reflecting expectations of higher interest rates overall as the Federal Reserve moves to hike short-term rates in order to combat surging inflation. Rising mortgage rates are complicating the homebuying equation during the spring homebuying season, traditionally the busiest period for home sales. Yun also suggested annual median home price growth could slow by December to 5%. “At the moment my sense based on casually looking at data is that home sales could easily be down 10% this year versus last year,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. A year ago, the 30-year rate stood at 3.04%, according to Freddie Mac.

Last week, the average hit 5% for the first time in more than a decade amid persistent high inflation. The slowdown came as mortgage rates surged, with the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan climbing to about 4.7% by the end of last month.

It’s also the slowest pace since June 2020, when sales were running at an annualized rate of 4.77 million homes. That’s in line with what economists had been expecting, according to FactSet. homes slowed in March to the slowest pace in nearly two years as a swift rise in mortgage rates and record-high prices discouraged would-be homebuyers.Įxisting home sales fell 2.7% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

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Buy cash a house freddie mac first look initiative