The spring housing market is defying expectations, with prices continuing to rise and competition remaining strong.
Despite higher mortgage rates, which typically lead to a cooling of prices and demand, the current market is still characterized by a shortage of homes for sale. This is due to existing homeowners being unable to afford to move, resulting in sustained high prices.
According to CoreLogic, home prices in February were 5.5% higher than the previous year. Although the annual comparison is slightly decreasing, the price gain from January to February was nearly double the usual increase for that time of year, indicating a strong start to the spring market despite higher interest rates.
Even though the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage reached its highest point in October, briefly exceeding 8%, and then dropped back to the 6% range for much of December and all of January, it rose back to over 7% in February. Despite this, sales of newly built homes have remained strong, as evidenced by contracts signed during…
2024-04-02 13:43:28
Article from www.cnbc.com