The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Thursday that it is extending a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until at least June 30. Originally, the moratorium was set to expire May 17, but the FHFA decided to change course as the nation continues to feel the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “During this national health emergency, no one should be forced from their home,” F
Record low mortgage rates are sticking around. The week ending May 14 marks the sixth consecutive week that mortgage rates have stayed at or near all-time lows. The 30-year fixed-rate averaged 3.28% this week, Freddie Mac reports.“Mortgage rates have stabilized at very low levels over the last few weeks as homebuyer demand slowly improves,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Although purchase applications reached a new low i
For the third consecutive month, Colorado Springs, Colo., continued its streak as the hottest housing market in the nation, according to realtor.com®’s monthly housing report.Realtor.com® bases its monthly rankings on which markets' home listings sites visitors frequent the most as well as where homes are selling the fastest. In Colorado Springs, homes sold in a median of 32 days last month, which is twice as fast as the rest of the nati
Mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that homeowners in forbearance can request payment deferrals and tack any missed payments on to the end of their loan term, without penalty or added interest.Under forbearance, homeowners are still required to repay any missed payments. But the government-sponsored enterprises made clear in an announcement Wednesday that borrowers do not have to repay them all at once.Freddie Mac stat
As states reopen, buyers are reemerging faster than expected, proving market resiliency against the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications to purchase a home posted their fourth consecutive weekly increase, rising 11% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Associations reported Wednesday.Applications are still 10% lower than a year ago but the annual loss continues to shrink each week. For example, last week’s purchase volume was down 19% annually. A month a
When Chris Read, ABR, CRS, broker-owner of CR Strategies in Woodridge, Ill., was asked to be a speaker at the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings two years ago in Washington, D.C., she interviewed 20 real estate professionals beforehand to get a bearing on their thoughts and experiences working with appraisers. It turned out to be interesting fodder for the Real Property Valuation Forum at this year’s virtual meetings. Before presenting Wednesday a
Property managers are coming up with new, creative ways to help commercial tenants in the COVID-19 era. Some are allowing move-out inspections via video conferencing while others are helping tenants to ramp back up as business starts to reopen, according to Angela Aeschliman, CPM, senior vice president of property and asset management with the Missner Group in Chicago. She presented during the Property Management Forum as part of the virtual 2020
Home prices in the first quarter of the year were up in nearly all major U.S. cities, and despite the continuing difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, prices show no signs of slowing, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ latest quarterly report.The median price nationwide for an existing single-family home was $274,600 in the first quarter, a 7.7% increase year over year. “The first-quarter price jumps mostly reflect conditio
Many homeowners have a lot of money in their homes. During the first quarter of this year, 26.5% of residential properties or 14.5 million were considered equity rich, meaning the owner had at least 50% equity in their home, ATTOM Data Solutions reports Thursday.“Homeowners’ balance sheets generally remained strong in the first quarter of 2020 across the U.S.,” says Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “In the lates
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage inched up slightly this week to average 3.26%, but remains near its record low.“Mortgage rates stayed at or near record lows for the fifth straight week and homeowners are taking advantage with refinance activity remaining high,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending May 7:30-year fixed-rate mortgages: average
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