Luxe Austin Homes - sellers

"Mortgage Demand Soars 28% as Rates Dip Slightly"

Realtor.com writes, "The numbers: A dip in mortgage rates prompted mortgage demand to rise a seasonally adjusted 27.9%

As mortgage rates dropped across the board, demand for both purchases and refinancing increased. That pushed the market composite index up, a measure of mortgage application volume, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.

The market index rose to 238.7 for the week ending Jan. 13, up 27.9% from a week earlier. A year ago, the index stood at 593.7.

Key details: The refinance index jumped 34.2% in the past week, but was down 81% compared to a year ago.

The purchase index—which measures mortgage applications for the purchase of a home—rose by 24.7% from last week.

Mortgage rates fell across the board.

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"2022’s Hottest ZIP Codes"

Opendoor writes, "recently, one-third of people across the U.S. told us they would relocate for a lifestyle change. Whether to be closer to outdoor and recreational activities or to join a close-knit community, the desire to belong remained strong in 2022 as the recalibration of work and personal priorities encouraged people to move away from city centers.

To see where people were buying homes in 2022, we reviewed the top 20 hottest neighborhoods across Opendoor markets. While the top 10 included many repeat favorites, it was the next 10 neighborhoods that were most intriguing. One example: Winter Garden, FL jumped up 5 spots from 2021.

Rising to the top 

These rising neighborhoods have a common thread: a small-town feel while close to a…

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"Home Price Growth Is Cooling Fast—Does It Spell a Big Break for Homebuyers This Year?"

Realtor.com writes, "December brought good tidings to homebuyers in the real estate market.

Nationally, median home list prices dropped about 11% from their peak over the summer to hit $400,000 in December, according to a recent Realtor.com® report. While prices were still up by about 8.4% year over year in December, this was the first time in a year that they rose by only single digits.

In another holiday gift for home shoppers, the number of properties for sale nationally shot up more than 50% compared with a year ago. And homes are sitting on the market for longer, giving buyers an opportunity to think about whether this is the right home for them instead of having to put in an offer on the spot.

Mortgage interest rates even dipped from…

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"Expert Economist Predictions For The Housing Market In 2023: Will Home Prices Decrease?"

Yahoo Finance reports, "the Federal Reserve was under pressure to start its roughly one-year-long journey to control inflation by raising interest rates as a result of stubbornly high costs during 2022.

The housing market has been under tremendous pressure as a result of those month-over-month rises in interest rates because mortgage rates rise in tandem with each Fed rate increase.

The Fed increased borrowing costs, which discouraged prospective homebuyers; in November, sales of new single-family homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 640,000, down from 756,000 the year before.

It wasn’t just interest rates.

According to a quarterly study released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the median price of a…

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"Santa Rita Ranch yet again ranks among best-selling neighborhoods"

Austin Business Journal reports, "Liberty Hill’s Santa Rita Ranch has claimed the title of top-selling master-planned community in the Austin area for the third consecutive year.

That distinction comes despite an overall drop in sales, according to Robert Charles Lesser & Co.’s 2022 list of the top selling master-planned communities nationwide. No other Austin-area neighborhood sold enough homes to rank in the country's top 50.

In all, 450 Santa Rita Ranch homes were sold in 2022. That was good enough for the development to top all rivals in the Austin area and secure the No. 32 spot nationally.

RCLCO has conducted a survey to identify the top-selling master planned communities since 1994.

According to Santa Rita Ranch developer Ed Horne,…

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"Will High Inflation and Recession Fears Lead to a Drop in Remodeling?"

Realtor.com writes, "during the height of COVID-19, it seemed like everyone knew someone who had bought a home and then remodeled the kitchen, created a home office or gym, or turned the scraggly backyard into an outdoor oasis.

But as the pandemic enters its fourth year, most folks are no longer trapped in their homes obsessing over every flaw. The homebuying frenzy that typically spurs remodeling work has died down. And many people are more concerned with high inflation and the looming threat of a recession than their dream en suite bathroom.

Where does that leave the remodeling industry? In fairly good shape, say most experts. Homeowners are expected to spend even more on remodeling, repairs, and maintenance in 2023 than they did in 2022.

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"Mortgage rates fall for the sixth week in a row"

Yahoo Finance reports, "mortgage rates dropped for the sixth straight week, but housing activity remained muted going into the holidays.

The rate for the average 30-year fixed mortgage slipped to 6.27% from 6.31% the week prior, according to  Freddie Mac . Rates have fallen more than three-quarters of a point since mid-November after the Federal Reserve signaled that it would slow its interest-rate hikes amid cooling inflation.

Still, rates remain 3 percentage points higher than they were at the start of the year, leaving many first-time buyers on the sidelines and sellers — who haven't pulled their listings — more willing to negotiate.

“Heading into the holidays, mortgage rates continued to move down,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief…

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"Buyers rejoice: Austin-area housing market ends streak of record-setting prices, sales"

Austin Business Journal reports, 'the median sales price of a home in the Austin-Round Rock metro was essentially unchanged in November from a year prior, the first time that's happened since February 2019, according to the Austin Board of Realtors.

The median price actually decreased, but just barely at 0.4%, to $467,955 — compared with $470,000 in November 2021, ABOR said Dec. 15. It's the latest sign of a cooling trend in the region's housing market, which is also seeing increased inventory and time spent on the market.

Ashley Jackson, an agent with Realty Austin and 2023 president-elect of ABOR, last month told Austin Business Journal there's hope the moderate adjustments are signs of a return to a more normal, seasonal market — as opposed…

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"Austin metro's home price is flat for the first time since 2019, report says"

Culturemap Austin writes, "The Austin housing market is normalizing, and for the first time since before the pandemic, metro home prices are not on the rise.

According to the Austin Board of Realtors' latest monthly report, November 2022 marked the first time since February 2019 that the median home price for the Austin-Round Rock metro area was flat. The metro's median registered at $467,955 last month, the same as November 2021, meaning 0 percent year-over-year growth.

At the same time, housing inventory nearly quadrupled from last year, to 3.1 months at the metro level, and the average time spent on the market grew to a whopping 58 days, leading to further market stabilization.

At the city level, Austin actually saw a drop in its median…

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'Home Prices Just Hit a Turning Point After Nearly a Year, but Will Buyers Miss It Amid the Holidays?'

Realtor.com writes, "while many homebuyers might be taking a break from their house hunt to indulge in some eggnog and holiday cheer, the few stalwart home shoppers still out there right now have a fantastic opportunity on their hands.

Want proof? Home price growth fell to 9.5% for the week ending Dec. 10, down from 10.3% for the week ending Dec. 3. And that shift to single-digit growth is significant.

“This slowdown marks the first time in 49 weeks, nearly one year, that median home prices have advanced at a single-digit pace,” explains Realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale in her weekly analysis.

And it’s not just home price growth dropping as 2022 comes to a close: Mortgage interest rates also dipped for the fifth week in a row.

So…

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