Mortgage rates

By the end of 2024 traders now see the U.S. central bank slashing rates by a full percentage point, despite officials repeatedly warning markets that they're in no rush to cut rates.

Broader economic factors, including growing household debt, are also likely to keep the housing market stagnant, Freddie Mac said.

But the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index still rose in October versus both September and the prior year.

The broader economy added 150,000 positions, a number the bond market initially read as likely to soften rates, but some economists interpreted differently.

Homebuilders and real estate investment trusts outperformed the broader market as investor appetite shifts toward more defensive, cash-producing sectors.

Freddie Mac's survey finds the 30-year fixed loan dropped 3 basis points, but Zillow's tracker showed since the FOMC announcement, they dropped 30 basis points.

For the first time in about 15 months, more new listings came on the market in August on a year-over-year basis, Redfin said.

At the same time, the 15-year fixed rate loan rose above 7% for the first time in nearly 23 years, Freddie Mac reported.

The Fed's higher for longer statements have pushed up the 10-year Treasury in recent weeks to levels last seen in 2007 and that is affecting pricing.

But the industry will still have to go through some pain in 2024, Wharton Professor Susan Wachter told attendees at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention.