Lower mortgage rates are expected to spur more buyers to enter the housing market. A house for sale in Los Angeles last month is seen here.on Wednesday by half a percentage point.
Rates bottomed out below 3% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage during 2020 and 2021 when the pandemic led to lockdowns, but they then climbed to nearly 8% last year amid a robust economy and rising inflation.helped send mortgage rates lower, even before the Fed announced its actual decision on Wednesday. Long-term fixed-rate mortgage rates are
He and his colleagues forecast that the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will be about 6.2% by the end of this year — where it is now. That's tough for first-time homebuyers. Kim Kronenberger, a real estate agent in the Denver area, says she worries for the would-be homebuyers who keep waiting for affordability to improve.scared off by bidding wars during the low-interest-rate era — and then were rebuffed by high mortgage rates and still-high prices.
. Supply has not kept pace with demand, especially as the large millennial generation is forming households and trying to buy homes.it harder for some homebuilders to get projects off the ground, especially smaller, private developers. That's because the rates onSo this rate cut should make it easier for those developers to get building again.Completed and under construction new homes are seen a site in Trappe, Md., in 2022.
"That has been a really big driver in terms of making housing out of reach for a lot of prospective buyers," he says.