UPDATES

"With mortgage rates rising, more people may be asking themselves the age old question: rent or buy? These decisions are particularly pertinent amid bubble-like housing prices, making monthly mortgage payments more difficult to manage, and also sky-high rents that have proven to be one of the economy’s stickier forms of inflation..."

"Mortgage application volume increased last week for the first time in six weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, despite a rise in interest rates. Abrupt swings in rates and uncertainty on the overall direction of the housing market are likely at play..."

"Rents for single-family homes were 12.6% higher in July compared with the year-earlier month, but the gains continue to shrink from the record high seen in April, according to a new report from CoreLogic.

Most major metropolitan areas are seeing the same cooling, even in the Sun Belt which saw rents soar the most during the first years of the pandemic.

Miami continues to see the biggest gain, with rents up nearly 31% from the year before, but that’s actually down from 41% growth seen in March. Phoenix rents were up 12.2% in July, but down from an 18% gain in March..."

"Sales of previously owned homes fell 0.4% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.80 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. That is the slowest sales pace since May 2020, when activity stalled very briefly due to the start of the Covid pandemic. 

Outside of that, it is the slowest pace since November 2015. Sales were 19.9% lower than in August 2021. The sales figures represent closings, so contracts that were likely signed in June and July, when mortgage rates spiked higher and then pulled back. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage began June at around 5.5% and then shot up over 6% by the middle of the month, according to Mortgage News Daily. 

It then pulled back a bit, hanging in the 5.7% range for most of July before dropping further to the low 5% range at the end of the month..."

"Real estate investors saw a surge of opportunity between 2020 and 2021 with record low interest rates, allowing for more aggressive buying opportunities and a competitive market. 

With the Fed and Jerome Powell taking interest rates to an unfavorable level and home prices still largely elevated, real estate investing just became much harder. 

Current mortgage rates are above 7% making the traditional approach to single-family home investing feel out of reach..."