Latest news with #JakeKrimmel
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mortgage rates spend another week stuck near 7%
Mortgage rates rose slightly this week as Treasury yields moved modestly higher. The average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.89% this week through Wednesday, up from 6.86% a week earlier, according to Freddie Mac data. The average 15-year mortgage rate was 6.03% from 6.01%. 10-year Treasury yields, which mortgage rates closely track, were choppy this week as markets continued to digest the U.S.'s credit downgrade and deficit implications of the Republican tax plan. Yields dropped slightly in recent days after President Trump agreed to delay European Union tariffs and new data showed that consumer confidence rebounded in May. They're currently around 4.43%, a similar level to last week. Although mortgage rates remain slightly lower than they were a year ago, plenty of prospective buyers are still struggling to find affordable options. Home contract signings dipped sharply in April, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday, a testament to the impact of elevated mortgage rates and recent market volatility. 'High mortgage rates will continue to pose significant challenges for homebuyers,' senior economist Jake Krimmel said in a statement. Although rates remained relatively high, mortgage applications to purchase a home improved 3% this week through Friday, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinancing applications, meanwhile, dropped 7%. 'Aspiring buyers should remember to shop around for the best mortgage rate, as they can potentially save thousands of dollars by getting multiple quotes,' Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said in a statement. Claire Boston is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mortgage rates spend another week stuck near 7%
Mortgage rates rose slightly this week as Treasury yields moved modestly higher. The average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.89% this week through Wednesday, up from 6.86% a week earlier, according to Freddie Mac data. The average 15-year mortgage rate was 6.03% from 6.01%. 10-year Treasury yields, which mortgage rates closely track, were choppy this week as markets continued to digest the U.S.'s credit downgrade and deficit implications of the Republican tax plan. Yields dropped slightly in recent days after President Trump agreed to delay European Union tariffs and new data showed that consumer confidence rebounded in May. They're currently around 4.43%, a similar level to last week. Although mortgage rates remain slightly lower than they were a year ago, plenty of prospective buyers are still struggling to find affordable options. Home contract signings dipped sharply in April, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday, a testament to the impact of elevated mortgage rates and recent market volatility. 'High mortgage rates will continue to pose significant challenges for homebuyers,' senior economist Jake Krimmel said in a statement. Although rates remained relatively high, mortgage applications to purchase a home improved 3% this week through Friday, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinancing applications, meanwhile, dropped 7%. 'Aspiring buyers should remember to shop around for the best mortgage rate, as they can potentially save thousands of dollars by getting multiple quotes,' Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said in a statement. Claire Boston is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Home prices in the biggest 20 markets decline for the first time in over two years. Here's where they're expected to fall the most.
Home prices in the 20 biggest U.S. metropolitan areas fell for the first time in over two years as historic unaffordability continued to weigh on the housing market — and prices could fall further in the months ahead. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home-price index fell 0.12% in March from the previous month, marking the index's first monthly decline since January 2023. The data was seasonally adjusted. 'You never know what might happen': How do I make sure my son-in-law doesn't get his hands on my daughter's inheritance? The best scenario for 2025 is stocks go nowhere, says this strategist. Here's where he says to camp out instead. It's my dream to travel to Africa. Can I pay for my husband's trip without commingling our finances? Why Obama's former budget director is now sounding alarms about debt My husband and I earn $115K and owe $220K on our home. We're inheriting $300K. Should we buy real estate or stock? The Case-Shiller index measures repeat-sales data. It generally has a two-month lag and reflects a three-month moving average. Home prices are still up on an annual basis. Compared with the same month a year earlier, the 20-city index is up 4.1%. Even that figure is a step down; the previous month saw a 4.5% year-over-year increase in home prices. But the broader trend is that the housing market is slowing down. Home-price growth has been decelerating over the last few months. The explosive rate of home-price growth seen during the pandemic has slowed due to persistent unaffordability, and home prices have been falling for the past few months in places such as Tampa, Fla., where housing supply has exceeded demand. A broader measure of home prices, the national index, also showed signs of deceleration. Nationally, home prices rose 3.4% in March from the same month a year earlier, a slowdown from 4% the previous month. The median price of a resale single-family home in March was $407,300. For a condo or a co-op, it was $363,000, and for a newly built single-family home, it was $403,700. The housing market is likely to lose more steam over the next few months, as economic uncertainty pushes home buyers to wait. Faced with significantly weaker demand, home sellers are resorting to price cuts to encourage buyers. The anxiety felt by both buyers and sellers is weighing on home sales: In April, existing-home sales fell to the slowest pace for that month since 2009, the National Association of Realtors said. Read more: Buyers are gaining the upper hand in a shifting housing market. 'Everybody wants a deal.' 'The market is softer than usual this spring due to a multitude of demand-side factors, including economic uncertainty, continued higher interest rates, and declining consumer sentiment,' Jake Krimmel, a senior economist at told MarketWatch. 'Nowhere is the softening clearer than the growing inventory of homes for sale, which rose over 30% [year over year] in April,' he added. In metro areas where home listings are piling up with homes sitting for weeks on the market without selling, expect price declines, he added. Inventories and the amount of time listings are spending on the market are growing the fastest in the South, by 33%, and the West, by 42%, Krimmel said, so 'these are markets where we can expect lower or potentially negative price growth in the coming months.' Nearly one in five sellers are cutting prices on their listings, the highest share for that month since 2016, when the company began tracking the data. The metro areas with the most listings with slashed prices in April included Phoenix, Tampa and Jacksonville, said in a recent report. 'Most markets in the Northeast and Midwest, however, are still quite tight and even look like they did during the pandemic — inventory remains low, and price growth is more robust,' Krimmel added. 'Regional data suggest a bifurcated housing market, an important story obscured by the national numbers.' is operated by News Corp subsidiary Move Inc.; MarketWatch publisher Dow Jones is also a subsidiary of News Corp. The real-estate platform Zillow Z also expects home values to fall by 1.4% this year, according to a recent report. Redfin RDFN, a real-estate brokerage, expects home prices to fall 1% by the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier. 'Is this a good tax strategy or a sham transaction?' My mother wants to give me her home. I have a plan to avoid taxes. 'The situation is extreme': I'm 65 and leaving my estate to only one grandchild. Can the others contest my will? My ex-wife said she should have been compensated for working part time during our marriage. Do I owe her? After 25 years, I finally asked for separate checks — and my friends iced me out. Did I do something terrible? My brother's 'good daughter' siphoned $70,000 from her father's accounts. Should she still get an inheritance? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Home Prices Dip for the First Time Since March as Housing Market Cools
The price of the typical American home fell last week compared with a year ago, following nine straight weeks of flat or rising prices—as the number of for-sale properties continued to climb. For the first time since mid-March, the national median list price edged down by 1.1% year over year, as home sellers struggled to find a market amid persistent affordability challenges and prospective buyers' growing concerns about the state of their personal finances and job security, according to the Weekly Housing Trends Report. The home price softening should come as no surprise, considering that nearly 4 out of 5 home shoppers said they believe it's a bad time to buy, according to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index released in April. This week, the mortgage rate ticked up to 8.86%, according to Freddie Mac. And while the median list price per square foot—which accounts for changes in home size—ticked up by 0.3% last week from the same time in 2024, indicating rising home values, it marked the slowest annual growth since September 2023, further reaffirming that buying demand is waning. 'These trends point to a gradually more favorable environment for buyers this spring, with more options and some price softening,' says economist Jake Krimmel. 'However, elevated mortgage rates and persistent affordability challenges continue to weigh on demand.' Fresh listings nationwide increased by 8.2% from a year ago, continuing their upward trajectory. 'The momentum that began earlier this spring remains strong, signaling a vibrant market as we head into late spring and early summer,' says Krimmel. 'With more fresh inventory hitting the market, buyers have better opportunities to find a home that fits their needs.' Meanwhile, the overall inventory, which includes both old and new listings, also continued trending up, registering a 29.7% year-over-year increase. This marks the 80th consecutive week of annual gains in the number of for-sale homes. All in all, there were more than a million homes for sale last week, the highest inventory level since December 2019. But while choices for buyers have expanded, it's important to note that overall U.S. housing supply remains far below levels before the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. The pace of the domestic housing market continued to slow down last week, with the typical home waiting for a buyer six days longer than a year ago. 'It's the longest stretch of additional days on the market since March, giving buyers valuable time to consider their options,' points out Krimmel. On average, it took roughly 50 days to sell a home in May. For context, during the pandemic, a home would be snapped up in around 33 days. Although annual inflation ticked down to 2.3% in April, its lowest level in 50 months, Krimmel stresses that broader economic uncertainty lingers—and prospective buyers are taking note, with consumer sentiment remaining relatively low. Looking ahead, the Federal Reserve has signalled interest rates could stay higher for longer, and mortgage rates recently edged up again, creeping back toward 7%. 'Despite improvements in several key housing supply indicators, housing activity is expected to remain muted until borrowing costs or prices come down more meaningfully,' concludes Krimmel. 'The Bachelorette' Star Jenn Tran Reveals Cute Miami Apartment Where She's Hunkering Down To Finally Finish Physician's Assistant Training Natalie Portman Reveals Real Reason She Quit Los Angeles To Raise Her 2 Kids in France Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy's Rivalry Is Heating Up—but Which of the PGA Championship Stars Has Hottest Home?
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Housing costs are still the stickiest part of an otherwise cool inflation report
Inflation may be broadly cooling, but housing continues to be one of the most stubborn rising costs consumers face. April's Consumer Price Index data showed that shelter costs rose 0.3% last month, accelerating slightly from March and accounting for over half of the 0.2% month-over-month price increase across all goods and services. Compared with a year earlier, shelter costs are up 4%. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Owner's equivalent rent — an estimate of how much a homeowner would pay to rent an equivalent property — rose 0.4% in April, while rent jumped 0.3% from a month earlier. Housing inflation has remained elevated since the pandemic, and its persistence has complicated the Federal Reserve's efforts to broadly bring down inflation. But there are some signs that costs are cooling this year. Learn more: Is it a good time to buy a house? A surge in multifamily construction in recent years has helped keep asking rents relatively flat in much of the country for the past year, and home price appreciation is slowing from levels seen in recent years. While lower broad inflation levels should be good news for homebuyers and sellers, many are still contending with other factors that make it hard to move forward, Senior Economist Jake Krimmel said in a statement. 'With the spring housing season underway, both buyers and sellers are facing a market where optimism over lower levels of inflation is tempered by elevated borrowing costs and economic uncertainty,' Krimmel said. 'Until borrowing costs fall meaningfully, housing activity is likely to remain subdued, even as underlying demand and supply slowly improve.' Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
