Mortgage rates in the mid-3s in January should put some pep in the buyers’ step. From MND:
Regular readers know that we’re fond of setting the weekly record straight in cases where day-to-day rate movements paint a drastically different picture than weekly surveys. When it comes to the latter, there’s really only one game in town.
Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey is not only the longest running weekly survey. It’s also by far and away the most widely cited in financial media. It’s even relied upon by the mortgage industry for certain calculations that affect borrower eligibility.
Unfortunately, the rate that Freddie published today (3.22% for a 30yr fixed) is a drastic departure from reality. 3.375% would be an aggressive rate quote this afternoon, and the average lender is closer to 3.50%! A gap of just over 0.25% might not seem like a lot, but consider that it held inside a range roughly half as big for the entirety of the 4th quarter of 2021! It can take months for rates to rise a quarter of a point and we just did it in a few days.
So is Freddie’s number wrong? Not exactly. It would be more accurate to say it’s “late” or “stale.” Freddie’s methodology allows for survey responses from Monday through Wednesday before publishing results on Thursday. Most of the responses are in on Monday morning. Few come in on Wednesday. As such, the survey ends up being a fairly accurate record of “Monday vs Monday” mortgage rates.
But the reporters who cover it simply refer to it as “this week’s mortgage rates.” While that’s all well and good when rates are holding fairly flat, or when the audience is simply keeping an eye on long-term rate trends, it does a disservice to those who are following rate changes for more timely reasons. This is especially true when there’s been muted movement at the end of the previous week and big movement in the new week, as is the case currently.
Bottom line, no one is lying to you, but the timelier truth is that 3.22% is old news.
https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/markets/mortgage-rates-01062022
we bought our first house late 2013 at 4.6%.
rates were in the low to mid 3’s to start 2013.
borrowed money is still “cheap”.
the real trick is……can you afford your property tax bill come retirement?
Prop 13 isn’t going to last forever. Give it 5-10 more years, tops.
It kept the property taxes cheap for boomers only. Anyone buying a house from now on will be paying a min. of $1000 per month with no relief.
If/when renters become the majority, they should vote to end prop 13 (once the old geezers are gone) and raise property taxes on the homeowner elites.
They are nibbling around at the $4,000,000-mark now! It’s only a matter of time.
Renters won’t kill Prop 13 until they get rent control first.