Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates for Texas homebuyers

North Texas Real Estate Market Partying Like It’s 1999

The North Texas real estate market continued to ramp higher in August. Median home prices in Denton County jumped 6.3 percent last month, with average prices rising 7.4 percent compared to a year ago. Denton County home sales increased 10 percent, while pending sales for Denton County homes shot 33 percent. Home buyers are still riding that wave of liquidity, and who can blame them. Mortgage rates just hit a new record low in the latest weekly survey, with the rate on the 30-year fixed dropping to 2.86 percent. Those low rates helped push North [...]

New Home Sales Soar In July To 901,000 SAAR

New home sales for July soared to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 901,000. That was the best showing for the new home market since 2007 as sales increased 13.9 percent for the month and 36.3 percent compared to July 2019. Both median and average prices jumped, rising $330,600 and $391,300 respectively. The supply of new homes plummeted to 3.9 months looking at the unadjusted numbers. Record low mortgage rates and $trillions in stimulus courtesy of the Federal Reserve's Covid-19 bailouts have proven to be the perfect recipe for home price inflation this summer. [...]

Adverse Market Refinance Fee Pours Cold Water On Refi Party

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) just poured cold water on the refi party with an Adverse Market Refinance Fee. Although rates may still be near record lows, come September 1st refinance mortgages will incur an additional 0.5% fee. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be raising their fees for refinance mortgages as part of an effort to shore up capital reserve buffers. Apparently FHFA is worried about increasing risk of the GSEs loan portfolios. There are still close to 4 million American borrowers on mortgage forbearance programs. What happens when those programs end [...]

New Home Sales Continue Covid Rebound, Up 6.9% Year-over-Year

The Census Bureau reported new home sales for June at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 776,000. That was a 13.8% jump from May sales and a 6.9% increase compared to June 2019. This was far better than June existing home sales reported by the National Association of Realtors this week which were still down 11.3% compared to the same time a year ago. According to Census estimates for June, median and average new home prices rose to $329,200 and $384,700 respectively. Both figures are sharp increases from May, and even June 2019. The non [...]

Denton Texas Employment Rebounds, But More Assistance Needed

Denton Texas employment levels continued to rebound in June, but it is obvious more state and federal assistance will be needed to weather the Covid-related job losses. Yesterday Texas reported the 3rd consecutive day of triple digit fatalities and a record high single day death toll of 174 people. Denton County saw its largest one day spike in coronavirus cases during the pandemic. The recent spike in Covid cases and fatalities in the state of Texas has put Texas' economic reopening on hold. The start of the new school year is still a moving target [...]

Corona Hangover Coming To The North Texas Housing Market

A corona hangover is coming to the North Texas housing market. It's not a question of if, but when. Texas posted a 3rd consecutive daily record yesterday for Covid-19 fatalities, and the 2nd wave of the coronavirus has put the reopening of the Texas economy on hold. The fall opening of schools and universities is becoming more problematic by the day. Anxiety is a now common theme because there are few good choices available when leaders at the Federal and state level have failed us in so many ways. North Texas home sales rebounded sharply [...]

Denton County New Homes See Sales Boost With Covid Recovery

Denton County new homes experienced a dramatic Covid-19 sales recovery last month. While closings of new construction were down 7 percent during the month, pending sales of new construction in Denton County skyrocketed 42 percent. This should translate to higher sales figures in the coming months. Sales of new homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were down 10 percent last month following the lockdowns and economic fallout surrounding the coronavirus, but pending sales spiked 43 percent in North Texas as buyers took advantage of record low interest rates and a rebound in many parts of [...]

North Texas Housing Market Hit With Two Viruses

The North Texas housing market is being hit with two viruses. The Covid-19 coronavirus and the subsequent lockdowns which halted economic activity resulted in a 26 percent decline in home sales in May. That was the worst annual decline for the Dallas-Fort Worth housing market in a decade. Contrary to the story spun in the area's largest newspaper it wasn't the pandemic that "chased buyers away". The 42 million new unemployment claims and a cliff dive in the stock market were responsible for that. It's difficult to get a mortgage when you are on unemployment, [...]

Coronavirus Hits DFW Home Sales, But Prices Holding Up

DFW home sales took another hit in April. Home sales slid 18 percent during the month of April as the coronavirus took a toll on the Dallas-Fort Worth real restate market. Pending home sales slid even further, falling 24 percent for April. Despite the noticeable seasonal increase in activity during the past few weeks, it appears the spring/summer selling rush we would typically expect is going to be muted by Covid-19 this year. With over 33 million Americans filing for unemployment during the past two months, a downturn in real estate activity should be expected. [...]

Reckoning Awaits For Inflated North Texas Real Estate Market

The reckoning awaits for the hyper-financialized north Texas real estate market.  It may take a few months for reality to sink in, but the writing is on the wall regardless of the efforts of housing industry pundits and professional economists to downplay the damage. The hopes of a v-shaped recovery are vanishing faster than the toilet paper on the shelves of your local grocery store. Many of the supposed experts, like the PhD economists employed at the Texas Real Estate Center at A&M, have turned a blind eye to the artificial inflation in Texas real [...]

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