Markets

NAR Finally Gets Real About Home Affordability Issues

The National Association of Realtors is out with a new method of gauging home affordability. As part of NAR's look at the the growing rift between housing availability and home affordability, NAR has developed a new affordability distribution curve and a home affordability score. The new monthly research is designed to look at home affordability conditions among different income percentiles, gauging how many homes on the market are actually affordable to various buyer income groups. The new affordability distribution curve and score show that many U.S. homes are no longer affordable to typical prospective buyers. [...]

Monkey Business – Expert Says Affordable Homes Are Going Away

Affordable homes are going away. With the prospect of rising rates, now is the time to buy a home. That is apparently the opinion of Dr. Luis Torres, a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M. Torres, in a rather interesting piece in the Houston Business Journal seems to be confident that Houston's real estate market is on the road to recovery:  “I can say this with some certainty that the worst of the downturn is behind us.” I'm not surprised that HBJ would print a piece like this (after all it is [...]

NAR: Existing Home Sales Up 5.9 Percent In October

Existing home sales increased 5.9 percent year-over-year in October. Numbers from the National Association of Realtors put existing home sales for October at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.60 million in October, a two percent increase from the previous month. This is welcome news from NAR, but it is also important to remember that this was before the spike in mortgage rates we have seen during the last month. "The good news is that the tightening labor market is beginning to push up wages and the economy has lately shown signs of greater expansion. [...]

By |2016-11-22T21:30:36+00:00November 22nd, 2016|In the Press, Markets, Mortgage Rates, Real Estate|0 Comments

Mortgage Rates Rip To Highest Level Since July 2015

Katy Texas mortgage rates rose to their highest levels since July 2015 as we ended the week. That new home you may have been looking to purchase just became more expensive. Unless you already had a mortgage rate locked in, higher rates likely means higher home payments or diminished expectations. As Friday came to a close, mortgage brokers were discussing the wreckage of higher yields and looking at a new interest rate landscape, at least in the short term. Mortgage News Daily explained the closing of the week in the mortgage market... "The most prevalent [...]

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