Mortgage Demand drops as interest rates hit a 2-month high.

• The average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) increased to 6.57% from 6.48%
• Mortgage applications to purchase a home dropped 4.8% last week, compared with the previous week.
• Applications to refinance a home loan fell 8% for the week.
• Bottom Line- higher mortgage rates and a severe shortage of homes for sale are taking their toll on current mortgage demand.

• Home prices rise as the spring market proves to be more competitive than expected.

• Millennial homeowners shift toward renovating instead of selling.

• 1 in 4 homes sell for less money in Texas and Seattle, WA than 1 year ago.

• Nearly half the home sellers in 1st quarter 2023 made some sort of concession to woo buyers.

Current home sales are still down in March and compared to March of 2022. Inventory is 41% lower than pre-pandemic levels and single family housing permits are down 31% while builder's continue to remain cautious do the interest rates.

What will our spring market bring upon us?

Some of the nations largest real estate lenders and financial institutions are forecasting something far worst than the Great Financial Crisis to come! Commercial real estate! Over $1.4 trillion of CRE mortgages have to be refinanced in the next 2 years, and a enormous amount of that debt is held with regional banks.

Only 559 homes sales were closed in Februrary, the lowest monthly total since 2011.

The NH Real Estate market is still showing sluggish signs of activity.

Hillsborough County:

Closed Sales down 31.8%

Average Days on Market is up 66.7%

Pending Home Sales down 5.4%

Sales Volume down 33.9%

Median Sales Price down 8%

• WOW! Mortgage refinance demand surged 18% week to week but was still 75% lower than the same week one year ago. Recently, Mortgage Bankers said mortgage home purchase applications rose 3% for the week and were 37% lower than the same week one year ago. The average loan size on a mortgage purchase application increased to $428,500 — the largest average since May 2022.

Median Sales Price: $425,000

Average Days on the Market: 32. (Up 14.3% since December 2021).

Pending Home Sales: 662. (Down 19.3 % Since December 2021).

Closed Home Sales: 1,029. (Down 28.2% Since December 2021).

Wave goodbye to waived contingencies

This time last year, desperate buyers were willing to waive finance contingencies, inspections, and more to snag their dream home. No more.

Realtors are finally in a position to be able to negotiate on the buyer’s behalf one again. No more eliminating contingencies. No more paying $100,000-plus over the asking price. No more having to decide minutes after the max allowable 15-minute showing window to make an offer, knowing that every hour they wait, the competition for that house will increase. The power is in the hands of the buyers once again.

Recession worries have been the talk throughout the second half 2022. And as many dont want to admit, the numbers speak for themselves...

Closed home sales are down 31% compared to 2021

Pending homes are down 24% since 2021

Sales volume is down 17% since 2021

Average days on the market is up 8% since 2021

Sales volume is down 18% since 2021

(If it looks like a duck, if it sounds like a duck.... Its a duck).!

Folks we are in a housing recession and have been for the past 4 months!