Rising rates drive US home prices to 15-year high

April 6,2021 | By Erickson Ocasio

Annual home price appreciation remained on fire in February, rising to its highest level in more than 15 years. Nationwide, home prices grew at a record year-over-year rate of 11.6% in February, according to Black Knight. Moreover, daily home sales data by the company’s Collateral Analytics group showed an annual 15.9% jump in the median single-family sales price. “Multiple years of constrained housing inventory and historically low-interest rates have helped fuel this fire to the point where nearly 75% of the 100 largest US markets have seen annual home price growth of 10% or higher,” said Black Knight data & analytics president Ben Graboske. “What’s more, Collateral Analytics’ Market Conditions Report shows the housing markets in 75% of ZIP codes rated either ‘Strong’ or ‘Hot’ based on underlying market metrics. Only 7% are characterized as ‘Normal.’ The shar

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US mortgage rates hit highest level in nine months

March 19,2021 | By Erickson Ocasio

US mortgage rates climbed for the fifth consecutive week following the Fed’s announcement on Wednesday. Despite the Fed’s decision to keep rates low, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was up four basis points to 3.09% week over week. The uptrend may have been caused by several market conditions, according to Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater. “As expected, mortgage rates continued to inch up but are still hovering around 3%, keeping interested buyers in the market,” Khater said. “However, residential construction has declined for two consecutive months and given the very low inventory environment, competition among potential homebuyers is a challenging reality, especially for first-time homebuyers.” The average rate for a 15-year fixed loan also rose this week, up to 2.40% from 2.38% the we

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