Mortgage rates

With low mortgage rates billowing demand as homebuying season approaches, consumer confidence for selling jumped in January, according to Fannie Mae.

Whether or not the cost of home loans go up may hinge on the labor market recovery, and right now bond yields suggest they are heading in one particular direction long term.

With the shift to a low-rate environment dominated by no cash-out refinancing, use of an alternative to traditional valuations has soared.

Investors were also reacting to the inauguration of Joe Biden and uncertainty over additional fiscal relief, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist Sam Khater said.

In a year beset with a pandemic, tornadoes and civil unrest, one bright spot that emerged in 2020 was a residential real estate market that enjoyed record-high sales and home prices in Chattanooga, Tenn.

After last week’s spike, mortgage rates dropped back to near historic lows, as broader worries about the pandemic and the economy came back to the fore for investors.

Mortgage applications decreased 1.9% from one week earlier as rising rates started to affect refinance activity, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Bottomed-out mortgage rates cut listing times and housing inventory while sales volume and average prices jumped annually.

Despite mortgage rates expected to rise modestly in 2021, a bolstered Biden administration stimulus package and COVID-19 vaccination efforts bring promise for economic recovery.

The pandemic-fueled exodus from New York City propelled nearby Westchester County to its strongest year for home sales in more than two decades.