The popular 30-year, fixed mortgage rate is loosely benchmarked to the 10-year Treasury bond. Since the end of the Great Recession, the 30-year, fixed mortgage rate has on average remained 1.7 percentage points (170 basis points) higher than the 10-year Treasury bond yield. Yet, this spread is not always consistent. It usually widens during ... Read More›

As mortgage rates rose rapidly last year, the golden handcuffs of low mortgage rates, otherwise known as the rate lock-in effect, was frequently cited as a primary culprit for the ongoing housing supply shortage. And, rightfully so, as according to third-quarter 2022 Federal Housing Finance Agency data, 84 percent of all outstanding mortgages have ... Read More›

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the housing market has experienced a series of highs and lows. The housing market was already strong prior to 2020, but the pandemic redefined the role of a home, creating a surge in demand which, coupled with record-low mortgage rates and limited housing supply, powered the housing market to multiple records ... Read More›

The fall usually marks the beginning of the school year, seasonally cooler weather and a seasonally cooler housing market. But, this year, the housing market’s typical autumn slowdown is more pronounced as rapidly rising interest rates discourage buyers and sellers from entering the market. The housing market is not immune to business cycles, and ... Read More›

In 2022, National Homeownership Month arrived in June as the housing market adjusts to higher mortgage rates amid still strong nominal house price appreciation, which have resulted in a significant decline in house-buying power. The housing boom of 2020 and 2021 was the exception, not the rule. Record-low mortgage rates, the ability to work from ... Read More›

As we celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, growing numbers of women, specifically single women, have become homeowners, achieving one of the main tenets of the American Dream. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the overall homeownership rate reached a low point of 63 percent in 2016, but has since rebounded to 65.5 ... Read More›

At first glance, the outlook for the 2022 housing market is a familiar one – strong millennial demand for homes constrained by an ongoing, historic housing supply shortage. This supply-demand imbalance generated the record house price appreciation seen in 2021 and, given this dynamic shows few signs of changing, we expect house price appreciation ... Read More›

Over the past year, increasing investor activity in residential real estate, particularly in single-family homes, has drawn a lot of attention. News of large institutional investors snapping up single-family homes underscored this summer’s historically hot housing market. Investors now own an estimated 2 percent of single-family rental housing ... Read More›