-April 2,2021-
Interest rates climb but still below year earlier
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported an 11.2% annual gain in January, up from 10.4% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 10.9%, up from 9.9% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted an 11.1% year-over-year gain, up from 10.2% in the previous month.
Rates continued their upward climb in the past week. For the week ending March 25, Freddie Mac announced that 30-year fixed rates increased to 3.17% from 3.09% the week before. The average for 15-year loans rose to 2.45% and the average for five-year ARMs increased to 2.84%. A year ago, 30-year fixed rates averaged 3.50%, over 0.25% higher than today. Attributed to Sam Khater, Chief Economist, Freddie Mac – “During the course of the pandemic, ‘home’ has become more important than ever. As a result, strong purchase demand continues—but buyers also outnumber the sellers. Since January, rates have increased half a percentage point from historic lows and home prices have risen, leaving potential homebuyers with less purchasing power. Unfortunately, this has disproportionately affected the low end of the market, where supply is the slimmest.”