Homebuyers are getting priced out before they even make an offer.The average contract rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage surged to 7.12%, a level last seen in May 2024, while Freddie Mac recorded its sharpest weekly rate increase in over a year. The Fed’s latest rate hike and surging Treasury yields are making an already expensive housing market even harder to afford.
- Purchase mortgage applications fell 19% from a year earlier in the week ending Sept. 11, per the Mortgage Bankers Association.
- Sellers offered concessions in nearly 45% of US home sales in the three months through August, a post-2020 high.
Mortgage standoff: The mortgage market has hit a number buyers don't want to touch. Pending sales have fallen to a near three-year low, while existing-home sales dropped 2% in August. Sellers aren't blinking either, with the median existing home still fetching ~$429K. Nationwide expects borrowing costs to stay elevated through year-end, and builder confidence has sunk to its weakest level since late 2022.
