Real Estate News in Brief
A quiet week for news saw mortgage rates drift lower, while existing home sales delivered a big beat relative to expectations.
Article of the Week
6 Golden Rules of Decluttering You Should Always Follow, According to a Pro
Read the article here.
National Real Estate News
Price growth accelerates
The Case-Shiller national home price index rose +0.4% MoM (+6.0% YoY) in Jan 2024. That was an acceleration from the +0.2% MoM growth seen in both Nov and Dec 2023. That said, 6 of the 20 big city indexes went backwards (home prices fell), up from 4 in December 2023. San Diego saw the strongest price growth (+1.4% MoM), while Denver saw the largest price decrease (-0.5% MoM). [Source: S&P Global]
Rates trend lower
Average 30-yr mortgage rates stayed below 7% for the second-straight week, helping to boost home sales. [Source: Mortgage News Daily] While the Fed did not cut interest rates at their meeting on March 20, their "dot plot" forecasts showed that the majority of Fed members still expect 50-75 bps (0.5% - 0.7%) of cuts before year-end 2024. [Source: Federal Reserve]
Home sales surprise
A little more inventory of homes for sale + a little lower mortgage rates (<7%) = existing home sales jumped 10% month-over-month in February 2024 to 4.4 million units annualized. That's the highest figure we've seen since March 2023. The median sales price of $384,500 was up 1.4% MoM and 5.8% YoY. Momentum is clearly picking up. [Source: NAR]
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