The average purchase loan amount has reached a new record high: $402,200, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The higher-priced segment of the housing market continues to perform strongly, the MBA says.Mortgage amounts have been climbing to new record highs since April 2020, near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.Mortgage applications for home purchases were up 17% last week over last year, the MBA reports.Home buyers are borrow
Higher home prices nationwide are hitting buyers’ pocketbooks. Eighty-eight percent of 161 metros tracked by the National Association of REALTORS® posted double-digit price increases annually in the fourth quarter of 2020. That marks a jump from 115 metros that posted such growth in the third quarter.The national median existing-home price jumped nearly 15% on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter to $315,900, NAR reports. All majo
About 17.8 million residential properties in the U.S. with a mortgage were considered equity-rich in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. That means the combined estimated amount of loans secured by those properties was 50% or less of their estimated market value.But some areas are seeing home equity grow faster than others. Overall, six of the 10 states with the bigge
What will the real estate investment market look like this year? A new survey by Millionacres, a Motley Fool news service, surveyed 250 of its readers and real estate investing experts to learn their 2021 predictions.Investors are particularly bullish on medical buildings, with 39% of survey respondents saying such facilities will become the hottest type of commercial real estate property this year. Industrial follows at 32% as well as self-stora
Credit union membership and lending is growing as borrowers increasingly turn to them for mortgages. Between the end of 2019 and September 2020, credit union membership increased by 3.37 million, or 2.8%. Credit union membership now totals 125.11 million, CNBC reports. Further, loan portfolios at credit unions grew 6.6% over the last year, and these banks saw a nearly 5% boost in loans.Affinity, a New Jersey-based credit union with 20 branches, r
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage continued to hover near its all-time low, offering low borrowing costs to home shoppers and refinancers. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.73% again this week; it’s all-time low was 2.65%, which was set in early January, Freddie Mac reports.“Mortgage rates remained flat this week and near record lows, signifying an economy that continues to struggle,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
This spring will likely be another fiercely competitive one for home buyers. Real estate professionals should prepare their house hunters for record low inventories and rapidly rising home prices.“Demand for housing was already strong coming into the year and we don’t see that slowing down with millennials reaching prime home-buying age, and many remote workers still in the market for more space,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief
As homeownership surges in demand, rental prices are taking a hit in many large cities. Rents fell in 37 of the nation’s 100 largest counties in December 2020, with rental prices in some of the traditionally highest priced tech hubs seeing some of the biggest drops.“Some of the major factors that attract renters to dense downtowns—proximity to work and restaurants and fun things to do—are not currently relevant,” says Danielle Hale, rea
Rising home prices and low inventory are putting pressure on first-time home buyers, but record-low mortgage rates and a hot market during the pandemic are encouraging many to jump-start their home search. In December, first-time buyers accounted for 31% of existing-home sales, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.Which places offer some of the best values for those entering homeownership for the first time? Researchers with reloca
Mortgage rates headed back down this week, continuing to hover near all-time lows. “As the market reacts to a new administration in Washington and COVID-19-driven economic malaise, mortgage rates continued to decrease this week, just slightly,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.Also, the Federal Reserve announced this week that it will leave both interest rates and its bond-buying program unchanged, both actions likely helping
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