The housing market has been on quite the roller coaster ride since the beginning of the pandemic. While it was strong prior to 2020, the onset of the pandemic and the societal changes it triggered redefined the role of a home. As work-from-home became the new normal, a house was no longer just a dwelling or a vehicle for wealth creation, but also ...
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Demographic trends are a fundamental driver of housing demand and supply and analyzing them can help us anticipate how many people will need housing, as well as roughly when, where and what kind of housing. During the pandemic, the peak of millennial demand for homeownership coincided with record-low mortgage rates and a shortage of homes for ...
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In August, the 30-year, fixed mortgage rate hit the highest level since the early 2000s. Higher mortgage rates have a dual impact on the housing market – reducing affordability for potential buyers and strengthening the rate lock-in effect for sellers. The outlook for the U.S. housing market is therefore heavily dependent on the path of mortgage ...
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The many twists and turns of the housing market over the last few years have made it difficult to contextualize current housing market conditions, especially as recency bias anchors us to the housing market of 2020 and 2021, which was anything but normal. Mortgage rates hit historic lows during these years yet have since increased to the highest ...
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What defines a housing recession? While some rules of thumb exist, there has never been general agreement on a definition. If you look at today’s housing market, existing-home sales have struggled to gain any momentum during what is usually the housing market’s busiest season. New home sales, on the other hand, have exceeded all expectations. So, ...
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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 ...
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