Will there be a Residential Real Estate Credit Crunch?

By Mark Fleming on April 18, 2023
The housing market has faced its fair share of headwinds leading up to this year’s spring home-buying season. While mortgage rates have retreated from recent highs, they remain elevated compared with one year ago, and house prices, while down from the peak, also remain elevated. All while housing supply remains historically and unseasonably low. ... Read More

Interest Rates Potential Home Sales tenure

What Makes a Boom-Bust Market?

By Mark Fleming on March 30, 2023
Affordability has now improved for three straight months, yet remains down 39 percent since January 2022, according to the Real House Price Index (RHPI). Nominal house price appreciation has slowed dramatically in response to dampened demand. Nationally, annual nominal house price growth peaked in March 2022 at 21 percent, but has since ... Read More

Interest Rates Real House Price Index Affordability

Why Home Buyers May Find More Opportunities with New Homes this Spring

By Mark Fleming on March 21, 2023
The spring season is typically the busiest time of the year for the housing market. According to data from First America Data & Analytics, historically approximately 36 percent of existing-home sales for the year occur from March through June. The housing market’s seasonal pattern is driven by factors such as weather, holidays and the ... Read More

Interest Rates Potential Home Sales tenure

Housing Affordability Improved for Second Consecutive Month in December

By Mark Fleming on February 28, 2023
While affordability has fallen 48 percent since December 2022, as measured by the Real House Price Index (RHPI), affordability has improved for two straight months. Nominal house price appreciation has slowed dramatically in response to dampened demand. Nationally, annual nominal house price growth peaked in March at 21 percent but has since ... Read More

Interest Rates Real House Price Index Affordability

How Will Recent Uptick in Mortgage Rates Impact Spring Home-Buying?

By Mark Fleming on February 22, 2023
There’s no question that the housing market fell into a deep freeze in the second half of 2022. Excluding the early months of the pandemic, the pace of existing-home sales fell below 5 million seasonally adjusted sales for the first time since 2014. Yet, signs have emerged that sales activity may pick up in the months ahead. Purchase mortgage ... Read More

Interest Rates Potential Home Sales tenure

Why Mortgage Rates Hold the Key to Improved Affordability in 2023

By Ksenia Potapov on February 3, 2023
By all respects, 2022 was a tumultuous year for the housing market. Annual house price appreciation remained at a double-digit pace for most of the year, mortgage rates increased by nearly 4 percentage points in less than 12 months and, as a result, affordability plummeted. By October, housing affordability had declined by a record 68 percent ... Read More

Interest Rates Real House Price Index Affordability