{"id":4083,"date":"2023-12-09T01:18:26","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T01:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/09\/mortgage-rates-just-dropped-to-near-7-but-youd-better-hurry-up\/"},"modified":"2023-12-09T01:18:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T01:18:26","slug":"mortgage-rates-just-dropped-to-near-7-but-youd-better-hurry-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/09\/mortgage-rates-just-dropped-to-near-7-but-youd-better-hurry-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage Rates Just Dropped to Near 7%\u2014but You\u2019d Better Hurry Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Realtor.com \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

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At long last, the housing market might be thawing just as we head into what\u2019s usually a seasonal deep freeze.<\/p>\n

Mortgage rates plunged for the sixth week in a row, to 7.03% for a 30-year fixed home loan in the week ending Dec. 7, according to averages tabulated by Freddie Mac. This welcome news comes on the heels of rates recently reaching a high in late October not seen in 23 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged near 7% this week, down from nearly 7.8% just six weeks ago,\u201d says Sam Khater<\/strong>, Freddie Mac\u2019s chief economist.<\/p>\n

This sharp drop could even portend a rate in the 6% range\u2014a number not seen since August\u2014next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition to these glad tidings, a fresh batch of new listings has recently come on the market.<\/p>\n

Does all this mean there\u2019s finally something major to celebrate as the holiday season kicks into high gear? We\u2019ll explain what the latest real estate housing data adds up to for buyers and sellers in this newest installment of \u201cHow\u2019s the Housing Market This Week?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

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How falling mortgage rates affect home prices<\/h2>\n

Although this drop in mortgage rates provides buyers some welcome relief on the affordability front, it could also increase the competition they face for limited listings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent decline in mortgage rates could bring buyers into the market,\u201d says Realtor.com\u00ae<\/a> economic data manager Hannah Jones<\/strong>\u00a0in her recent\u00a0analysis<\/a>. But this, in turn, might \u201capply additional upward pressure on home prices unless seller activity increases in kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, for the week ending Dec. 2, median home prices edged up by 1.2% over last year, \u201cmaintaining a consistent growth rate from the preceding two weeks,\u201d adds Jones.<\/p>\n

Whether prices might shoot up in a more significant way remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Listing pages are growing<\/h2>\n

Only one thing can break the ongoing inventory crunch that\u2019s keeping home prices at unfriendly highs: fresh listings.<\/p>\n

And in the good news column, new listings were up by 5.6% for the week ending Dec. 2 compared with last year.<\/p>\n

This welcome wave of new homes for sale could mean that sellers, once frozen by the mortgage \u201clock-in\u201d effect\u2014meaning they weren\u2019t willing to give up their low-rate mortgage\u2014might be finally breaking loose.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeller activity remained above the previous year\u2019s level again this week, offering some hope to buyers trying to secure a home before the end of the year,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n

Buyers have even more to celebrate, with overall active inventory (a combination of existing and fresh listings) increasing by 3.1% above year-ago levels.<\/p>\n

The housing inventory outlook<\/h2>\n

Overall inventory generally dips in the colder months as buyers and sellers go into hibernation mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing activity remained strong relative to a year ago this week, but generally continued to ease according to typical seasonal trends,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n

And while Jones explains that \u201cthe pace of new listings is still 16.9% below typical pre-pandemic levels,\u201d next year might see that percentage shrink.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect mortgage rates to soften in the new year, which may help bring sellers back into the market and bolster home supply,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on local real estate<\/h2>\n

Examining national trends is all well and good, but what\u2019s going on in your neighborhood might be paramount in the new year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking into 2024, we expect housing activity to vary market to market,\u201d says Jones. \u201cGenerally, affordable Northeast and Midwest markets will likely see strong sales and price growth in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sun is also expected to shine on the West Coast markets again as they \u201crebound from their significant slowdown in 2023,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n

When buyers across the nation see a home that fits their wish list, they may want to act quickly. For the week ending Dec. 2, homes were snatched up three days faster than the same time last year, marking the ninth week since July 2022 of faster home sales year over year. (In November, homes spent an average of 52 days on the market.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for-sale inventory remains scarce, buyer demand is funneled into fewer homes for sale, keeping time on market quick relative to last year,\u201d concludes Jones.<\/p>\n

In other words, homebuyers had better hurry up.<\/p>\n

The post Mortgage Rates Just Dropped to Near 7%\u2014but You\u2019d Better Hurry Up<\/a> appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com\u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Realtor.com \/ Getty Images At long last, the housing market might be thawing just as we head into what\u2019s usually a seasonal deep freeze. Mortgage rates plunged for the sixth week in a row, to 7.03% for a 30-year fixed home loan in the week ending Dec. 7, according to averages tabulated by Freddie Mac….Read More→<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}