Home prices

Fannie Mae researchers found housing costs decelerating for the fourth straight quarter, but limited inventory may be driving hopeful buyers to look for opportunities in the new-construction market.

A February survey of 2,000 people who were looking to sell their home in the next 12 months, found that 86% were planning to buy another home, but of those respondents, 56% are waiting for rates to come down.

Average purchase-loan amounts on new applications also increased after a recent pullback, as limited inventory provided little price relief.

But a monthly increase in housing costs nationwide to start 2023 may point to a bottoming out of prices in many areas, CoreLogic said.

Almost twice as many homes on sale in February saw a reduction in housing costs compared to a year ago, as elevated interest rates limit how much buyers can afford.

And in January, all-cash buyers reached their highest share in nine years, at 32.1%, Redfin said.

The pace of supply coming to market continued its late 2022 slowdown in the first two months of the new year, but greater opportunities may lie in sales of newly constructed properties.

Homebuilders are rising as much as 1.7% Tuesday after data showed previously owned home sales snapped a yearlong slide, rising in February by the most since mid-2020. 

Sales of previously owned homes rose in February by the most since mid-2020, snapping a record year-long slide tied to rising interest rates and affordability constraints.

Home sellers are offering to pay for closing costs, mortgage rate buydowns and property repairs in order to attract buyers, Redfin found.

By the end of December, 63% of borrowers saw home values increase by 7.3%, for a collective gain of $1 trillion, CoreLogic's report found.

In the four weeks through Feb. 26, the median price for a typical home was $350,246, down 0.6% from the same period a year earlier, the brokerage said Thursday.

Prices nationally fell 0.3% in December from the month before, according to seasonally adjusted data from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.  

The total price of U.S. homes was $45.3 trillion at the end of 2022, down from a record high of $47.7 trillion in June, according to Redfin's report.

Average housing costs have surged over 40% since 2019, outpacing 15% in wage increases, the National Association of Realtors said.

A series of recent studies offer a view into the dynamics that will impact home sales in 2023.

Although housing values have noticeably flattened in recent months, the share of buyers expecting the search for a new residence to become harder grew, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Prices also fell roughly 0.3% in November from a month before, according to a seasonally adjusted data of national prices from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

During a hearing on racial bias in home valuation, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau questions the Appraisal Foundation's "weird" regulatory structure.

To monitor the health of lenders still operating, industry watchers should observe firms' abilities to meet covenant requirements, renew warehouse lines of credits and their activity in the mortgage servicing rights market, said Brian Brown, chief financial officer at Rocket Companies.