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Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author’s opinions and recommendations alone. It may not have been reviewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners. Though many Generation Zers — those born between 1997 and 2012 — are children or young teens, some older members are attending college, starting careers and buying homes for the first time.But where are Gen Zers looking to buy? To answer, LendingTree analyzed mortgage offers given to adult Gen Z users of the LendingTree platform across the nation’s 50 largest metros from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31,...

A picture is worth a thousand words. Nothing has been the same since Covid and The Federal Reserve’s massive overreaction to the government shutdowns of the economy. Notice how the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (white line) has plunged since Covid and the ensuing rise in inflation. University of Michigan’s Buying Conditions for Houses has also plunged to new depths. Yes, Bidenflation is just killing us. Rising inflation (highest in 40 years) and hottest home price bubble (even hotter than the infamous housing bubble of 2005-2007) AND rising mortgage rates have placed a damper on home buying sentiment. The...

The Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is rising faster than a SpaceX moonshot! I’m telling your now that The Fed is killing the dreams of millions of Americans by pricing them out of the housing market. Home price growth is lethal as is the increase in mortgage rates. Do The Feddy!

A top California lawmaker is proposing to spend $10 billion to help families buy homes in the state with some of America’s highest housing prices. Democratic State Senate Leader Toni Atkins on Wednesday unveiled details of a proposal she’s pushing to create a revolving fund that would provide interest-free loans for up to 30% of the purchase price of a home for low- and middle-income households. [snip] The median price for single family homes in California last year was $786,000, according to the California Association of Realtors, more than twice the nationwide average. [snip] Under the proposal, California would spend...

April’s inflation numbers are out and, at first glance, inflation seems to be cooling from 8.5% YoY in March to 8.3% YoY. But the headline inflation numbers do not accurately reflect the pain and suffering of American households. Food is up 9.4% YoY and gasoline is up 43.6% YoY. The strange way the BLS measure “shelter” shows that housing only grew at 5.1% YoY. That’s odd since home price growth is almost 20% YoY and rent growth is near 20%. Runaway home prices and rents are especially painful given that inflation is destroying the purchasing power of the dollar for...

Yes, homebuyers are jumping into a generally slowing housing market to “beat the heat.” That is, beat The Fed’s monetary tightening. Mortgage applications increased 2.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 6, 2022. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 5 percent compared with the previous week and was 8 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The Refinance Index decreased 2 percent from the previous week and was 72 percent...

Simply unaffordable! US housing, that is. As The Federal Reserve tries to fight inflation, mortgage rates are soaring and we are seeing an INCREASE in mortgage purchase applications ahead of Fed tightening. Panic in (Fed) Needle Park! Mortgage applications increased 2.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 29, 2022. The Refinance Index increased 0.2 percent from the previous week and was 71 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 4 percent from one week earlier....

We now have the proverbial double whammy happening … soaring home prices AND soaring mortgage rates. The theory is, of course, that The Federal Reserve will slowly remove its staggering monetary stimulus leftover from 1) the financial crisis of 2008 and 2) the Covid recession of 2020. As you can see, the sheer volume of monetary stimulus remains outstanding and it is the EXPECTATIONS of The Fed tightening that is caused the 30-year mortgage rate to rise. So, The Federal Reserve is participating in The Great Reset by helping send mortgage rates to the moon. But with soaring mortgage rates...

Rising home prices and The Fed signaling an end to the perpetual punch bowl have resulted in the University of Michigan buying conditions for houses to hit the lowest level since 1982. While bearish sentiment in markets highest since 2009 in the stock market. I don’t get why Biden created a “Disinformation Control Board” led by Nina Jankowicz – a disinformation spewer. We already have disinformation media outlets like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, etc., so why create a Federal control board? All in time for the midyear elections!! If this move by Biden doesn’t...

Heartaches in heartaches. US GDP growth for Q2 has stumbled to 0.446% as The Fed is launching quantitative tightening (QT) to fight the inflation that they caused in the first place. According to the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow real-time GDP tracker, US GDP growth has stumbled to a meager 0.446%. Despite the massive stimulus from The Federal Reserve and Washington DC’s massive fiscal stimulus. Biden, Powell and Congress are driving me crazy with inflation/price changes. No corporate economists, inflation is NOT a good thing. Pending home sales decline 8.9% in March, another heartache for Americans. Will The Fed say good bye...

Thanks to The Federal Reserve helping to raise mortgage rates through the roof, mortgage applications are going down. From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey. Mortgage applications decreased 8.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 22, 2022. The Refinance Index decreased 9 percent from the previous week and was 71 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 8 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 7 percent compared...

US existing home sales in March were expected to fall -0.6% from February, but they actually fell -8.6%. This is happening at The Federal Reserve is signaling tightening and mortgage rates are rising rapidly. I think the above chart says it all.

Making homes affordable is NOT one of the mottos for The Federal Reserve. But making homes outrageously unaffordable for the masses should be their motto. The February Case-Shiller home price indices are out for February and the national home price index rose to 19.80% YoY. Instead of the limbo rock, The Fed is apparently trying to see “How HIGH can we go?”

It’s a problem happening all across the country: smaller towns, usually vacation spots, are seeing a change in demographics. Locally, more people are wanting to move to Panama City Beach, driving prices up, and driving locals out. “Prices are escalating because people are willing to pay for that and that is a market economy. It’s called supply and demand. It affects every product in every commodity everywhere,” American Realty Of Bay County owner Tony Viejo said. The term “pricing out locals” is an all too familiar saying for people in Panama City Beach. “We’ve seen prices go up at such...

US existing home sales declined -2.7% MoM in March and are down -3.8% YoY. The median price of existing home sales are still sizzling at 15.23% YoY while inventory available still remains MIA by historic standards. While mortgage rates have been smoking, existing home sales growth slowed compared to February as the US begins its Spring/Summer buying season. WHO is buying homes? There are considerably purchases by investors as of Q4 2021 taking advantage of Fed stimulypto.

There is one song that sums up the mortgage banking industry with proposed tightening of Fed monetary stimulypto: T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Mortgage applications decreased 5.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 15, 2022. The Refinance Index decreased 8 percent from the previous week and was 68 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 14 percent lower than...

We have Federal Reserve of St Louis President James “Bully” Bullard saying that The Fed could raise rates by 75 basis points in May, the Japanese Yen to Dollar is crashing as mortgage rates continue to soar. Here is a nice summary of The Fed’s massive balance sheet expansion in reaction to Covid (orange line) and the resulting soaring of home prices. Then The Fed signals that they will remove the “punchbowl” and mortgage rates have boomed. And not in a good day. Today we have the US housing starts report. In a nutshell, 1-unit housing starts (single-family detached) declined...

After briefly falling below 6% last Friday, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped up to 6.875%, increasing by more than one percentage point. The rate is nearly two percentage points higher than the average rate just one month ago. Rates for most other loan categories increased as well, although not quite so dramatically. The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate loan, however, moved lower. The latest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 6.875%. ⇑ The latest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.143%. ⇓ The latest rate on a 5/1 ARM is 4.258%. ⇑ The...

Fortunately, I refinanced my home mortgage while Trump was still President. When Biden was installed as President, the 30-year mortgage rate was 2.88% (according to Bankrate). It has now risen to 5.25%. The Federal Reserve is now expected to raise their target rate as much as 50 basis points at the next meeting on May 4, 2022. This chart shows the anticipated rate hikes coming our way, peaking in summer 2023. The good news is that the US Treasury actives curve is upward sloping, but is showing fatigue in the forward rates between 7Y and 10Y. On the hard asset...

Inflation Joe and Slow-Walking Jay. The bullies of the middle class and low-wage workers. As inflation crushes the middle class and low wage workers, we see that the REAL Fed Funds Target Rate (based on headline inflation) is the lowest in history. Notice that the REAL Fed Funds Target Rate tends to hit its lowest negative reading DURING recessions, although The Fed has had a poor track record since the Dot.com bubble burst and the 2001 recession meaning that the REAL Fed Funds Target rate has been in negative territory (that is, the rate of inflation has exceeded The Fed...