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)
More potential homebuyers are backing out of the housing market, as interest rates continue to climb. Mortgage applications fell 13.2 percent from two weeks ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), while the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage jumped to 6.58 percent from 6.34 percent from two weeks ago.
“The end of the year is typically a slower time for the housing market, and with mortgage rates still well above 6 percent and the threat of a recession looming, mortgage applications continued to decline over the past two weeks to the lowest level since 1996,” said Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA, in a press release.
Refinancing is also plummeting from its 2021 highs. The association's holiday adjusted index tracking the activity decreased 16.3 percent from the two weeks ago and 87 percent from the same week a year ago, when mortgage rates were half what they are now.
"Mortgage rates are lower than October 2022 highs, but would have to decline substantially to generate additional refinance activity," Kan said.
The upside of the pullback in mortgage applications is that price growth is finally beginning to slow. The most recent S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price index numbers showed a 9.2 percent annual gain in October, down from 10.7 percent in the previous month, and a 0.5 percent month-over-month decrease.
“As the Federal Reserve continues to move interest rates higher, mortgage financing continues to be a headwind for home prices," said Craig J. Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI in a press release. "Given the continuing prospects for a challenging macroeconomic environment, prices may well continue to weaken."
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.
