Home buyers see very little reason to make a jump to the most important spring real estate market, even if there are more lists for sale. The mortgage interests have not increased significantly in the past few weeks, and real estate prices continue to rise.
According to the seasonally adjusted index of the Mortgage Bankers Association, the mortgage applications for the purchase of a home have dropped by 4%last week. The demand was flat compared to the same week a year ago.
“The average loan size for a buying loan has increased since the beginning of the year and continued this trend in the past week with weaker purchase activities of the government, which has reached 447,300 US dollars, the highest level since October 2024,” said Joel Kan, Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist MBA.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed mortgages with compliant loan credit ($ 766,550 or less) decreased from 7.02% to 6.97%. This rate was 17 basis points lower than the same week a year ago.
“The mortgage interest rates have been lower last week and in harmony with the lower returns after the FOMC session and a volatile week for the stock market.
Applications for refinancing a housing loan reacted to this small decline and rose by 12% compared to the previous week and 17% compared to the same week a year ago. The percentage increase is great, but a large part of it is due to the fact that volumes are so low. Most borrowers today have interest rates under what is offered today.
Mortgage applications for the purchase of a home are now 39% lower than in February 2019, pre-pandemic. Sales with budget sales are almost 30 years old, and real estate prices are still record highs nationwide.
In January, more sellers offer price reductions, 15.6% compared to 14.7% in January last year, according to Realtor.com. But most sellers still see enough competition to capture their list prices.
In the meantime, the range of houses for sale increased by 25%compared to a previous year. The majority of the offer is due to the fact that houses are sitting on the market for longer. The average time for the sale of a house in January was 54 days, the longest since March 2020, according to Redfin. The range of houses for sale is still 25% below where it was in January 2019.