On the negative side, the banking sector’s problems could cause further damage to home prices in activity on the West Coast – where several cities’ markets were already considered “overheated” following a pandemic-era surge.
“The surge in tech layoffs was already causing jitters, and now the bank failures are adding to buyers’ nerves.”At the same time, the bank industry’s struggles are likely to have a cooling effort on long-term mortgage rates, which had surged back above 7% by some measures as the Federal Reserve teed up more interest rates hikes.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.6% for the week ending March 16, according to Freddie Mac data. Rates posted their first weekly decline in more than a month.Bloomberg via Getty Images “Buyers pounced when rates fell because they’re so volatile right now, which shows that there are plenty of people waiting in the wings for the right time to enter the market,” Redfin economics research lead Chen ZhaoEven with a potential drop in mortgage rates, housing market activity is still at a relative standstill compared to last year.
This would be news to anyone that has no clue.