Mortgage rates

The shift ended a long run of higher rates that have depressed loan application activity, and it temporarily creates a new refinancing incentive for some borrowers.

Vaccinations and a third round of stimulus payments are boosting consumers views on the housing market, according to Fannie Mae.

Mortgage rates that are rising in tandem with a recovering economy dampened borrower activity, even with prime homebuying season underway.

The increase won’t hurt the incentive for the average home shopper, but it means those who were looking to “buy the dip” in prices amid the pandemic may have missed their chance.

After two straight months on an upward trajectory, rising interest rates pushed homebuyer demand down to a third of where it stood at the start of 2021, according to Freddie Mac.

While there were fewer new mortgages sought on a week-to-week basis, the index was higher than it has been during the same week in the last two years.

But the 10-year Treasury yield began backing down after the weekend as investors reacted to turmoil in Europe.

From offering operations folks big bonuses to grooming recent grads, lenders are getting creative in their efforts to manage staffing throughout the boom-bust cycle.

Household formations, looser credit and an improved economy will overcome higher rates — and even the inventory shortage.

However, the increase has been more gradual than that seen in Treasury yields, and loan activity has only subsided slightly to date.

While the economic recovery and stimulus checks drove upward movement in purchases, it wasn’t enough to offset tumbling refinance activity.

Apart from saving more money, millennials prefer to spend their savings on a home down payment, Zonda economist Ali Wolf said.

Economists see two quarter-point hikes in 2023. But they also expect the U.S. central bank’s own forecast will show the median Fed official projecting rates staying on hold near zero throughout that year.

After a booming 2020, more mortgage lenders than ever before expect diminishing margins in the coming months as climbing interest rates set up heightened competition.

Consumers may want to strike while the iron’s hot and apply for loans now, before rates get much higher.

Mortgage rates surged 40 basis points since the start of the year as the economy improved.

Servicers struggled to bring back their borrowers as the overall retention rate crept down to a nadir in the fourth quarter, according to Black Knight.

And there are some brawls on the field affecting the direction of business for the rest of this year.

The gap between those that considered it a good or bad time to buy narrowed 10 percentage points in February, the tightest spread since last April, Fannie Mae found.

With the latest growth, interest rates spiked 37 basis points since the calendar flipped to 2021 alongside rising Treasury bond yields.