The majority of home sale contracts are settling on time, but 26% faced delays in February while 6% were terminated completely, according to the latest REALTORS® Confidence Index. The following chart shows the most common issues sparking a delay to closing.The most common problems leading to a termination of the contract were related to appraisal issues (11%), obtaining financing (10%), and home inspection/environmental issues (9%).Nevertheless,
Some housing analysts have grown concerned about what will happen to the real estate market when temporary foreclosure moratoriums are lifted. Will it spark a wave of new foreclosures and lead to a crisis?Already, foreclosure activity is on the rise, even though the moratoriums are still in place and the government has relaxed requirements for mortgage forbearance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreclosure filings in March rose 5% compared to the
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage continued to drop this week, heading back near the 3% range.The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.04% this week, Freddie mac reports. Mortgage rates are still below a year ago and remain at historical lows, which has proven a boon for the housing market, economists note.“Mortgage rates took another dip this week as the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased by almost ten basis points, week over week,” says
With home prices are surging, owners in some areas earned more via price appreciation over the last year than from their salary, according to a new study from Point2Homes, an online real estate marketplace.In 2020, the net increase in home prices outstripped owners’ salaries in 15 of the largest U.S. metros, with the differences ranging from a mere $38 to up to nearly $60,000, according to the analysis.The strongest home price gain for this was
Small-town living has become increasingly appealing to more Americans. Even prior to the pandemic, rising home prices were prompting more consumers to move farther away from city centers in search of greater square footage and to make their housing dollars stretch more.In a 2020 survey from Gallup, nearly half of U.S. adults said they would prefer to live in a small town or rural area, a 9% increase compared to 2018.“We’ve seen home shoppers
Rents are on the rise once again. After eight months of slowdowns, rent growth in the largest metros saw an increase in March, rising 1.1% year over year, according to realtor.com®’s Monthly Rental report released on Tuesday.The median rent nationwide for the 50 largest metros averaged $1,463 in March. Over the last eight months, rent growth decreased from 2.2% in July 2020 to just 0.6% in February."Although we're still below the 3.2% growth w
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a mass disruption to the way people live and work and prompted sweeping economic fallout felt throughout the world. Global leaders are still coming to grips with the long-term impact to the real estate industry.COVID-19 has accelerated many existing trends, including digitalization, dispersed working, and online shopping, panelists said at a webinar on Wednesday highlighting the Urban Land Institute’s newly rele
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.13% this week, a welcome drop for many home buyers who may be closely watching the rising borrowing costs over the last few weeks.“After moving up for seven consecutive weeks, mortgage rates have dropped due to the recent, modest decline of U.S. Treasury yields,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “As the economy recovers, it should experience a strong rebound in the labor marke
Homeowners may notice an increase in their property tax bills. Municipalities levied about $323 billion in property taxes on single-family homes in 2020, a 5.4% increase compared to 2019, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ newest property tax analysis for nearly 87 million single-family homes in the U.S.The average tax on single-family homes nationwide in 2020 was $3,719—reflecting an effective tax rate of about 1.1%. But many areas of the co
Americans are more upbeat about the idea of selling, particularly as the vaccine rollout continues and latest round of stimulus checks are distributed. That could come as hopeful news as many markets face severe housing shortages and buyers are increasingly being left with few choices of homes for sale.Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index rose by 5.2 points in March to a reading of 81.7. The components on the index that increased the most
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