The Bluebid Buzz is a regular summary of housing market news and data driving our decision-making at Bluebid Homes.
Here's the Buzz for the week of October 12, 2023…
Executives from the Mortgage Bankers Association, The National Association of Home Builders, and the National Association of Realtors published a letter to the Fed Board of Governors and Chair Jerome Powell calling for an end to interest rate hikes as the industry works its way through a shortage of homes for sale and elevated home prices.
Yahoo Finance believes the 2023 housing market is more like the 1980's - with elevated inflation and high interest rates - than 2008.
Per Business Insider, the CEO of Redfin says the market may be stabilizing for homebuyers, and it's likely pressure will shift from buyers to sellers.
While CNBC report overall mortgage application activity remains depressed and close to multi-decade lows, adjustable mortgage applications increased by 15% last week. The reason? Rates for 30-year fixed mortgages rose to the highest level since 200 last week, but rates on ARMs fell.
U.S. News & World Report digs into the markets seeing the biggest price drops and those seeing continued strengthening.
There's a lot of finger pointing going on in the industry. While plenty of beef is justified, some playing the blame game should look in the mirror. Mortgage rates exacerbate the shortage of homes for sale on traditional listing services, but active inventory hasn't reflected the country's housing stock in quite some time. We're building a more welcoming path to selling by removing published days on market and other hurdles, and it's working.
Have a great week.
Disclaimer: Views expressed here are my own and not the views of my coworkers or anyone else. I am not a financial advisor, investment advisor, or housing expert. I’m just a guy who cares deeply about saving the American Dream of homeownership.