Key Points: Existing-home sales for August are expected to increase 0.5 percent from July’s pace of sales. If realized, this would mark two consecutive monthly increases. While house-buying power is nearly 4 percent greater than last month, and 10 percent above a year ago, it remains 7 percent below the two-year, pre-pandemic average. Even if ...
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Key Points: In May and June, four of the eight indicators in our model flashed housing recession. While July data is still trickling in, it’s looking like we may narrowly avoid a housing recession. The relationship between housing and economic recessions is complicated and, contrary to what many believe, housing does not always lead economic ...
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Key Points: In July, affordability improved annually in 12 markets for the first time since 2021. Despite the improvement in affordability, the only 17 percent of consumers indicated that it’s a good time to buy a home, down from 19 percent in June, according to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI). Affordability nationally remains ...
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Housing market sales activity in 2024 has closely followed the path of mortgage rates, and we expect that to remain true with July’s existing-home sales data that will publish on July 22. Each month, we use our Existing-Home Sales Outlook Report to ‘nowcast’ existing-home sales based on the historical relationship between sales, demographic ...
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Since real estate is local, whether it makes more financial sense to continue renting or to buy depends on where one lives. However, typical rent-versus-own calculations fail to include the main financial benefit of owning, which is the accumulation of equity. While rare, house price declines can make it more costly to own a home, but after ...
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Nationally, affordability improved modestly on a monthly basis in June, driven by slightly lower mortgage rates and positive income growth. However, on an annual basis, affordability nationally remains approximately 4 percent lower than one year ago. Two factors drove the annualized drop in affordability – a 5.6 percent annual increase in nominal ...
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