Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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Interest Rate Increases Drive Refinancing Declines
The latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly application surveys shows a decline for refinancing and an increase in mortgage purchasing. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate increased, averaging close to 3.2 percent for the month and was 3.16 percent in the latest week. In the latest week, total mortgage applications, as proxied by the MBA’s Market Composite Index, decreased by 2.8… Read More ›
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Residential Real Estate Credit Standards Ease Slightly in Third Quarter
The latest results of the Federal Reserve’s Board’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS), lending standards and demand for residential real estate (RRE) loans both eased slightly in the third quarter of 2021. Additionally, banks reported easier lending standards for all categories of commercial real estate financing (CRE loans), and, within CRE, stronger demand for multifamily… Read More ›
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Q3 2021 Consumer Credit
In the third quarter of 2021, non-real estate-secured consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate by 5.6%, with revolving debt1 increasing by 7.4% and nonrevolving debt2 increasing by 5.1%. Consumer credit totaled $4.4 trillion on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, with $1 trillion comprised of revolving debt and $3.4 trillion in nonrevolving debt. This outstanding level marks a total increase of… Read More ›
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Mortgage Rates Rise, Activity Declines
The last month of mortgage purchasing and refinancing activities, as reflected in the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest weekly application surveys1, shows a rise in purchase applications and a decrease in refinancing as compared to the prior month’s activity. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate increased, averaging close to 3.15 percent for the month, and was 3.2 percent in the latest… Read More ›
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Share of New Homes With 4 or More Bedrooms Jumped in 2020
The U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Construction’s (SOC) 2020 estimates of the shares of the number of bedrooms in new single-family homes showed a sharp upswing in the percentage of new homes started with 4 or more bedrooms, unlike in prior recent years. The most recent SOC data show the shares in the varying number of bedrooms in new homes… Read More ›
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Real Estate Market Values Spike in the Second Quarter
The latest Federal Reserve Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States, i.e., the “Flow of Funds”, show that in the second quarter of 2021 the aggregate market value of all owner-occupied real estate in the United States registered the largest quarterly increase in the last 21 years of data. From $33.8 trillion in the first quarter of 2021, real estate… Read More ›
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HBGI: Small Outlying Counties Have Greatest Share of Most Affordable Markets
Housing affordability has been a key driver of the suburban shift of home building activity over the last year and a half. As the following analysis from the NAHB Home Building Geography Index reveals, lower density markets in general have higher housing affordability conditions, which explains the shift in construction activity. The second quarter HBGI examined county-level Price-to-Income ratios. The… Read More ›
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Mortgage Refinancing Activity Tapers in Latest Month
The last four weeks’ mortgage purchasing and refinancing activities, as reflected in the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest weekly application surveys, shows a general withdrawal of refinancing and a very slight increase in purchasing from the prior month. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate hovered 3 basis points above 3 percent, consistently, for the last three weeks. In the latest week,… Read More ›
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Number of Bathrooms in New Homes
The Census Bureau’s latest Survey of Construction (SOC) shows changes in the shares of the number of bathrooms and half-bathrooms of single-family homes started in the United States in 2020. The latest data show that 3% of new single-family homes started had one bathroom or fewer, 65% had 2 bathrooms, 25% had 3 bathrooms, and 7% had 4 bathrooms or… Read More ›
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Tracking the Geography of Home Building: Housing Affordability Metrics
Housing affordability has gained increased attention in recent quarters due growing home prices and rents. For the second quarter of 2021, NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) explored a geographic measure of housing affordability using Price-to-Income ratios of all counties in the United States1 to map the geography of single-family and multifamily construction. The principal findings of this new classification… Read More ›