Luxe Austin Homes - rates

"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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"Homebuilding starts to pick back up as buyers adjust to new pricing norms in tight market"

Austin Business Journal reports, "after months of slowdown in the wake of weaker buyer demand, homebuilders are starting to pick back up on construction — and feeling more confident about the housing market since mortgage rates surged last year.

Privately-owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.63 million, a 21.7% increase from the April estimate of 1.34 million, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. Meanwhile, privately owned housing units authorized by building permits last month were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.49 million, 5.2% higher than in April but 12.7% less than the May 2022 rate.

The jump in home starts observed last month is notable, said Kelly Mangold, a principal at RCLCO Real…

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"The Housing Market Has a ‘Chicken and Egg’ Problem—but Buyers Have Finally Hatched the Perfect Workaround"

Realtor.com writes, "anyone who’s tried to buy or sell a home lately is no doubt painfully aware that today’s real estate market has slowed down considerably—but why?

A new Realtor.com® report sums it up as the “chicken and egg” problem. Allow us to explain.

It all starts with mortgage rates—which are about 1 percentage point higher than last year, hovering in the mid-6% range. This is a formidable deterrent not only for buyers, but also for sellers, who feel “locked in” to their current properties (along with the lower mortgage rates they got years earlier).

As a result, even homebuyers who are willing to pay high rates are finding few homes for sale, with May clocking 22.7% fewer new listings than last year.

“Many sellers report being…

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"Down Payment Amounts Are Shrinking: Can Buyers Put Down Less and Still Compete?"

Realtor.com writes, "after a steady rise in buyers kicking in ever larger down payments in an attempt to win heated bidding wars over the past few years, down payments are now shifting—and shrinking.

The housing market is seeing an overall decline in down payments for the first time since the second quarter of 2020, according to a new report from Realtor.com®. Buyers likely don’t have that extra cash lying around as they face stubbornly high home prices, higher mortgage interest rates, and rising inflation. And many have already burned through the COVID-19 stimulus payments that helped millions of Americans save up.

The average down payment slipped to 13% in the first three months of this year, down from the peak of 14.1% in the second quarter…

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"‘There Is No National Housing Market’: Why Location Matters Now More Than Ever"

Realtor.com writes, "the longtime mantra of the real estate market, “location, location, location,” may never have been so true.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a national frenzy seemed to permeate the housing market as buyers spent previously unimaginable sums on homes just about everywhere. The real estate market was fairly monolithic as the number of available homes dried up and prices shot up around the country.

However, what’s happening in the national housing market might no longer resemble what’s going on in local markets across the country. As mortgage interest rates have risen, some markets have slowed while others continue to speed up. Home prices may be falling in one city but accelerating in another. Bidding wars may be fierce in one…

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"Are bidding wars coming back to the housing market?"

Austin Business Journal shares, "although the spring 2023 housing market has little resemblance to the frenzied 2021 buying and selling season, there's evidence some markets and types of houses are starting to become more competitive, owing mostly to a lack of inventory.

Forty-eight percent of homes sold nationally during the four weeks ending April 30 went under contract within two weeks, down from 51% a year earlier but up from 46% a month prior, Seattle-based Redfin Corp. (Nasdaq: RDFN) recently found.

While demand for housing among buyers exists, a key reason for increased competition for certain homes is because inventory remains extremely tight. Owners who locked in record-low mortgage rates during the pandemic are hanging onto their…

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"Have Home Prices and Mortgage Rates Both Peaked? A Hopeful Look Ahead"

Realtor.com writes, "America’s home prices are still rising, currently hovering at a median of $430,000 in April. But at long last, these sky-high housing costs seem poised to fall, perhaps as early as this month.

That’s according to a new report from Realtor.com®, which found that April’s listing prices had ticked up a mere 2.5% compared with a year earlier. That’s the slowest yearly price growth seen since April 2020, when COVID-19 quarantines forced the real estate market to grind to a halt.

Once markets opened up again, the pandemic unleashed a steep and unprecedented ascent in home prices, culminating in a record-setting high of $449,000 last June. But the latest data suggests that this raging seller’s market might have finally reached its…

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"Roughly 1 in 4 Homes for Sale in Austin and Seattle Cost Less Than They Would Have a Year Ago"

Redfin News reports, "one-quarter of homes for sale in Austin, TX (25.8%) have lower estimated monthly housing payments than they would have if they had been for sale a year ago. That’s a higher share than any other major U.S. metropolitan area Redfin analyzed and more than triple the nationwide share of 7.1%. 

Seattle is close behind, at 23.6%, followed by San Francisco (18.8%), New York (18.3%) and Pittsburgh (15.6%).

This is according to a Redfin analysis of U.S. single-family homes, condos/co-ops and townhouses for sale as of April 11, 2023. We estimated what a homebuyer’s monthly housing payment would be on those homes using the Redfin Estimate of the homes’ value in April 2023 and the average U.S. mortgage rate in March 2023. To estimate what…

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"Amid Bank Turmoil, the Housing Market Has Just Done Something Extraordinary"

Realtor.com writes, "while most Americans rarely worry about their bank, that faith was shaken this week when several (including Silicon Valley, Silvergate, and Signature) went under. Withdrawal runs and stock market chaos ensued, sending ripple effects far and wide. 

Yet by some miracle, one facet of the economy that remained astonishingly unruffled was the housing market—which even showed a glimmer of good news. 

Namely, mortgage rates fell this week to 6.6% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, according to Freddie Mac. This marks the first drop after five weeks of pushing upward, cresting last week at 6.73%.

Plus, homebuyers who are bracing for another hefty rate hike to hit next week when the Federal Reserve meets again may instead find some…

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"Austin Housing Market Forecast"

U.S. News reports, "given the enormous popularity of the greater Austin, Texas, area for online searches, newcomers and employment growth, it may act as a reasonable bellwether for the state of the U.S. housing market. This will certainly be tested in the spring and summer selling season, when the National Association of Realtors reports that about 40% of sales of existing homes throughout the U.S are historically made between the months of May and August. Besides offering warmer weather, buying a home during these months allows buyers with school-aged children to shop, bid, close and move into a new residence before the start of a new school year.

Similar to the overall U.S. housing market in mid-2020, the Austin housing market went into…

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