An 'open house' flag is displayed outside a single-family home on September 22, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Allison Dinner/Getty Images)
Mortgage applications jumped 6.5 percent from a week ago, according to a weekly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), even as they remain well below their pace a year ago.
“Treasury yields declined late last week, as market concerns over bank closures and the potential for broader ripple effects triggered a flight to safety in Treasury bonds," said Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist for MBA.
"While lower rates should buoy housing demand, the financial market volatility may cause buyers to pause their decisions," he added.
The average 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage dropped to 6.71 percent from 6.79 percent, inching back away from the 7 percent mark. The 30-year fixed jumbo mortgage rate also fell, to 6.39 percent from 6.49. Refinance activity, meanwhile, shot up 5 percent, though it remains 70 percent behind its level last year.
In other news from the housing market, home sellers gave concessions to buyers 45.5 percent of sales over the three-month period ending in February, according to Redfin.
“Any home with a roof that’s over eight years old is just sitting—buyers don’t want to put any additional funds into repairs. I had a few sellers offer credits for new roofs to close the deal. We’re also seeing more buyers ask for credits toward their closing costs.”
“Buyers today are way more demanding and selective," said Elena Fleck, a Redfin real estate agent in Palm Beach, Florida, in a press release. "They’re willing to wait to find the perfect house, which wasn’t the case during the pandemic homebuying boom.”
Updated March 15, 2023 at 4:20 p.m. ET to clarify the latest conforming and jumbo mortgage rates.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
