The Epoch Times
By Chadwick Hagan
Jan 23, 2024
As soon as the Fed started raising rates, I expected to see a housing market correction. Luckily, this never happened. I believe asset managers like BlackRock - who have been buying up the housing supply - have buoyed housing demand and stabilized prices. This has also caused average rental rates across America to skyrocket.
December 2023 was the worst for home sales since 1995, but according to a January 18th report from Fannie Mae, the situation is improving. The report from the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research Group stated: "The housing market is expected to begin a gradual return to a more normal balance in 2024, following years of significant oscillations in mortgage rates and divergences of key housing market measures from their historical, pre-pandemic relationships.”
I’ve been curious about the mortgage market, so I spoke with a well-known Atlanta-based mortgage specialist - Mike Rishel - about the market. Here is what he said:
Chad: How is the mortgage market right now? With rates going from historic lows - the 15-year mortgage rate was at 2.19 percent, and the 30-year rate was at 2.73 percent in February of 2021 - to very high rates, the situation seems dire.
Mike Rishel: We are excited because rates have come down enough in the past two months to stir up the business. I have more pre-qualified buyers from applications taken in the past two months than in the previous six months.
Read the full article below
https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/business/have-we-seen-the-worst-in-the-housing-market-5572101?utm_source=andshare
