Luxe Austin Homes - buy

"The 'lock-in' effect is hitting homebuyers. It may get worse."

Austin Business Journal shares, "Americans expect high mortgage rates to rise even more in the coming years, a perspective that could further dampen the housing market.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s SCE Housing Survey found Americans expect mortgage rates to climb from just under the 7% they are now to 8.7% a year from now and 9.7% in three years — the highest recorded since the agency started asking Americans that question in 2014.

The pessimism around mortgage rates comes as the Federal Reserve has held off on cutting interest rates after spending much of 2022 raising them to curb inflation. Some officials have said the likelihood of the Fed raising rates again is low, and the housing industry is holding its breath on what future…

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"Here’s what’s happening with home prices as mortgage rates fall"

CNBC reports, "the U.S. housing market cooled off pretty dramatically last year, after mortgage rates more than doubled from historic lows. Home prices, however, have been stickier.

Prices began falling last June, but are still higher than they were a year ago. Now, as demand appears to be coming back into the market, due to a slight drop in mortgage rates, prices are pushing back.

In December, the latest read, U.S. home prices were 6.9% higher year over year, according to CoreLogic. That was the lowest annual appreciation rate since the late summer of 2020. Last April, annual price appreciation hit a high of 20%.

Falling home prices were reflecting weaker housing demand, as inflation, job cuts and uncertainty in the economy piled onto the…

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"Why is the real estate boom in Austin slowing down?"

KVUE Austin reports, "more than two years ago now, 2020 saw what many real estate agents and developers called a gold rush in Austin, with homes being sold in a matter of hours. Now, the market appears to be slowing down.

"It's brought a lot of people here and it was just a perfect storm," said Chester Wilson, one of the owners of Greater Austin Builders.

Two years ago, many set their sights on Austin.

"Gold rush is a perfect term for it. I've been doing this for 25 years. It was unlike anything we've ever seen," said Cord Shiflet, the president of the Austin Board of Realtors.

However, Shiflet said Austin's real estate boom isn't going anywhere but that it's just slowing down.

He noted that rather than…

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"How High Can Mortgage Rates Possibly Go?"

Realtor.com writes, "higher mortgage interest rates have taken a battering ram to the housing market.

Since the start of the year, mortgage rates have more than doubled. They’ve blown past all expectations, nationally exceeding 7% by some estimates. The possibility that rates could continue to rise has struck fear into the hearts—and bank accounts—of many stressed-out homebuyers.

The simple, and dispiriting, math: Every time they tick up, fewer buyers can qualify for loans—and those that do often can afford to buy only much cheaper homes.

So how high could rates go? The answer depends largely on how the economy fares. If inflation persists, the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising its own interest rates and mortgage rates will likely follow…

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"It’s the perfect starter home. But it’s only for rent."

"Adam and Tahnya Gaston arrived in this Austin suburb in June with a toddler, a dog and enough money for a down payment. But within days they scrapped their plans for buying a house, deterred by soaring home prices and rising mortgage rates. Instead, they’re paying $4,000 a month to lease a three-story house in a new development aimed squarely at renters.

As the housing market sours, families around the country are eschewing homeownership and turning instead to new homes in rental-only developments such as the one where the Gastons landed. When completed, the Oaks on Chisholm Trail will have 113 stand-alone homes, each with a kitchen island, two-car garage and tiny plot of lawn — all exclusively for rent.

It’s one of…

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Are house prices going down?

After U.S. inflation cooled more than expected last month, you may be wondering whether or not the housing market is cooling off. The answer is yes — but with an asterisk.

The median sale price for a home in June 2022 was $428,400, an 11.2% increase since the same time last year. Even though this is a double-digit increase in prices, it’s also the smallest year-over-year increase “in nearly two years,” Redfin market analyst Tim Ellis says.

Data indicates that while U.S. home prices decreased 0.4% from June to July, other factors are still impacting home affordability. Even though home prices remain high, Ellis says the market is balancing out due to a variety of factors, including higher mortgage rates and decreased demand.

Redfin data shows…

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New-home market 'at a crossroads' amid uptick in canceled contracts, incentives

Homebuilders across the U.S. are shifting their strategies and financial outlooks amid changing consumer demand for housing.

But where the jury is still out is whether the trend toward elevated canceled contracts, more incentives and lower demand for housing is settling out to pre-pandemic levels — when demand for homes was still higher than historic norms — or will continue to worsen.

The nation's publicly traded homebuilders, in earnings calls reporting their most recent quarter's financial performance, are seeing similar trends and patterns across their portfolios as the housing market shifts amid higher interest rates and fears of a recession. The three-month period that ended in June is the first full quarter that illustrates how…

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