Spring is usually the time of the year when the housing market is the hottest, but that may not be the case this year. Instead of home sales heating up, it's beginning to look like sales will be cooling off as the weather begins to warm up.
In recent years, the health of the Federal Housing Administration's flagship insurance fund has continually improved, leading to speculation that the FHA could reduce its mortgage insurance premiums to ease the costs for borrowers with an FHA loan. But it appears no such cut is coming…at least not any time soon.
Rising lumber costs have already been at fault for slowing down the construction of new homes. Now, those costs appear to be slowing down new home sales as well. Read about how home sales dropped to lowest level since May 2020.
Earlier this month, pending home sales data from the National Association of Realtors showed that existing home sales could be set to slow down due to 'inventory constraints.' The actual sales data for February is out now, and it is just as expected: a slowdown. Read about how the lack of inventory is slowing existing home sales.
There's nothing the housing market needs more right now than more available homes hitting the market. Unfortunately, it appears that construction of new homes is slowing down at just the wrong time.
For many years, the common refrain among housing observers was, 'When are Millennials going to start buying homes?' As it turns out, they've been buying homes for quite a while now. More homes than any other age group, in fact.
It looks like the fourth quarter was a very financially favorable one for homeowners, as a new report shows that the average homeowner just gained a substantial amount of equity in their home.
Although home prices continue rising at a pace not seen since the mid-1970's, it's still a better bet to buy than rent in many of the nation's biggest cities, according to new research from professors at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University.
Despite how housing has been over the last year, there's been one thing consistently holding housing back from even greater heights: a lack of inventory. The demand is there, but the supply just isn't keeping up. And now, it appears that those chickens have come home to roost. Read how Home Sales May Hit Slow Due to Lack of Inventory in 2021.
Thanks in large part to mortgage interest rates that were comfortably below 3%, the mortgage industry just finished its best quarter since at least 2000.
Smart Moves Start Here.