Each month Fannie Mae and the MBA release forecasts (both quarterly and annual) for housing and related lending. This summarizes their latest outlook as of March 2021. Interest Rates Not only do Fannie Mae and the MBA disagree on where interest rates are heading, they even see different average rates last year in 2020. Fannie …Read more
Some things were different at the Super Bowl this year while others remained the same. New facets ranged from the miniscule 25,000 fans that were allowed in the stadium, to the never-before-seen 30,000 cardboard cut outs, and the almost 10,000 vacant seats due to the capacity restrictions. For the first-time in history, the Super Bowl …Read more
Existing home sales accelerated through October 2020, with closings hitting 6.85 million dwellings on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR). This was the greatest level posted since March 2006 as reported by the National association of Realtors® (NAR). On a SAAR, sales were up a gigantic 26.6 percent compared to one year ago and up …Read more
Just as Elections Have Consequences, Taxes Have Ramifications. This annual blog on the Best (and Worst) State Tax Business Environments is a summary of the Tax Foundation’s annual report on comparing all 50 states across multiple taxes. Every state differs in where revenues are sourced, tax amounts and what services they provide. The TINSTAANREM axiom …Read more
Existing home sales exploded up a massive 20.9 percent to 6.54 million in September 2020 based on seasonally adjusted annualized sales (SAAR) vs one year ago as reported by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). This was the greatest rate of sales seen since May 2006 on a SAAR. Raw unadjusted sales rocketed up 24.7 …Read more
The increased amount of time we are spending at home makes the residence more intrinsically valuable than at any time in people’s lives today. Coupled with record-low interest rates, new and existing home sales and refinance lending volumes continue to grow – with total residential lending now forecast by Fannie Mae to hit a record …Read more
Talk to almost any homebuyer today and ask the top hurdles facing them, it is all but guaranteed that affordability hits at or near top of their list of challenges. A strong headwind for homebuyers in the past 12-months was the 11.4 percent jump in the median sales price of existing homes when comparing August …Read more
It’s an election year, so things are always different – correct? Housing sales will be down no matter what? Right? The high-end market always slows – right? Both are myths – but are they true? MythBusters was one of my favorite TV shows years ago, but analyzing these housing sales myths is not going to …Read more
Jobs are everything to an economy. Period. They create effective demand for real estate – residential and commercial — enabling not just the need and want but also the ability to pay. The U.S. just posted the largest drop in jobs in history in April 2020, shedding 22.16 million workers –which in turn triggered a …Read more
Existing home sales rose to the best level seen since December 2006, coming in at 6.00 million closings on a Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) according the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Sales on a SAAR were up 10.5 percent compared to one year ago and up 2.4 percent sequentially vs July. Total monthly raw …Read more