Economy

The association thinks this could simplify and manage the costs of two new pending credit requirements by allowing companies to add the one that's been through a price hike second.

There's divergence of opinions between one more rate hike this cycle and no further actions.

"I do believe you'll begin to see some improvement, or increases, in new housing as we head into the back half of the year," Chief Financial Officer Jim Peters said in an interview. "We're hearing optimistic stuff from the builders we deal with."

It's a toss-up between a recession or a soft landing, though some, including Fannie Mae's Doug Duncan, still believe a downturn is more likely than not.

The 30-year fixed, which was threatening going above 7% again according to Freddie Mac data, was 18 basis points lower this week.

Residential starts fell 8% last month to a 1.43 million annualized rate, according to government data released Wednesday.

Despite the improvement in sentiment, the homebuilder index remains below end-of-2021 levels, when mortgage rates were lower

The U.S. economy has a better chance of avoiding a recession in the next 12 months following recent positive data on economic activity and inflation, according to Jan Hatzius, the chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. 

The share of homeowners late by 30-59 days got slightly higher but remained below 1%, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

However, both Zillow's and Optimal Blue put the 30-year fixed mortgage lower than where it was seven days prior.