Real Estate Market Updates

For the fifth consecutive month, existing-home sales continued to be resilient in the face of the pandemic, climbing nearly 27% compared to a year ago, the National Association of REALTORS® reported Thursday. Also reported this week, construction of single-family homes soared to the highest pace since the spring of 2007, as more buyers turned to the new-home market to find homes for sale. Buyers...

Florida Realtors’ data: Single-family home sales up 26.9% year-over-year, median sales price up 15.6%; condo sales up 30.3%, median price up 15.9%. Chief Economist O’Connor: Strong and persistent demand, coupled with worsening inventory shortages, continued to drive up home values. ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida’s housing market continued to be a bright spot for the state’s economy in October, even...

Last week, a stock market surge pushed rates a bit higher. This week, the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell once again to 2.72%, its 13th record low this year. WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week, reaching record lows for the 13th time this year amid fresh signs of weakness in the pandemic-ravaged economy. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the...

“The holiday buying season is upon us, and homes are going under contract at a rate we haven’t seen in years! In October, the median time to contract in Broward County was 22 days, a 52.2 percent decrease from 2019. This decrease is due in part to the historically low levels of inventory. Our supply of inventory has decreased 39 percent to 2.5 months. Along with the 2020 trend of low inventory and low...

Freddie Mac: Forbearance did more than help at-risk owners. It also stopped a foreclosure surge from hurting the market and helped all homeowners retain their value. WASHINGTON – According to Freddie Mac’s latest Insight, without forbearance, many households may have defaulted or been forced to sell their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. These forced sales could have depressed the housing market,...

Two out of three (65%) metro areas had double-digit price gains in the July-Sept. time period, and single-family home sales rose in every area NAR tracks. WASHINGTON – Every metro area tracked by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) during the third quarter of 2020 saw home prices increase from a year ago, according to the association’s latest quarterly report. Due in large part to...

A robust stock rise fueled by the possibility of a pandemic vaccine pushed mortgage rates slightly higher, up from 2.78% in last week’s survey. WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. long-term mortgage rates rose this week. They remain at historically low levels, now around a percentage point below a year ago. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year benchmark loan...

It’s a new all-time record low for the 30-year FRM – the 12th time this year. Meanwhile, the average rate on a 15-year mortgage remained at 2.32% this week. WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. long-term mortgage rates were flat to lower this week, as the key 30-year rate fell to a new all-time low for the 12th time this year. The background of economic anxiety in the recession set off by the pandemic, which...

An analysis of 3Q buyer searches on Redfin’s website found 22K more people from other states looked for a Fla. home than the number of Floridians who looked elsewhere. SEATTLE – An analysis of online state-to-state home searches provides some insight on U.S. migration patterns, and Florida appears to be attracting a lot more new residents than it could lose to out-migration. Redfin economists...

Freddie Mac: The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage broke its all-time record low for the 11th time this year, dropping slightly from last week’s average 2.81%. MCLEAN, Va. – Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey released Thursday found that the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to an all-time low of 2.80%. That’s down slightly from last week’s 2.81% and the 11th...