30-Year Mortgage Rates Hover Around 4%

For the fifth consecutive week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained around 4 percent.

"The 30-year mortgage rate fell 3 basis points this week to 4.02 percent,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “However, this week's survey closed prior to Wednesday's flight to quality. The delayed impact of the associated decline in Treasury yields may push mortgage rates lower in next week's survey."

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending May 18:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.02 percent, with an average 0.5 point, dropping from last week’s 4.05 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.58 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.27 percent, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week’s 3.29 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.81 percent.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.13 percent, with an average 0.5 point, dropping from last week’s 3.14 percent average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.80 percent.

5% Down For Borrowers Without Credit Scores

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Freddie Mac's 3%-5% Down Solution

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To learn more about how local and national statistics can impact your overall goals, call me today and visit my profile page on.  Whether your market is hot, not, or rising, I can provide guidance and advise you on what you need to know.

The 2017 Smart Home Marketplace Survey: Americans Are Ready for Voice Control

Turns out, Americans are ready to have a voice-enabled home.

Admit it – we all talk to ourselves a bit at home, and before you know it your home and its devices may be equipped to talk back to you!

Coldwell Banker teamed up with Vivint Smart Home to see what smart home trends were at the precipice of dominating in 2017. The joint survey released today found that Americans are ready to embrace voice control, with an increasing number already using the feature.

According to the survey, 72% of Americans who have smart home products – controlled remotely by a smartphone, tablet, computer or by a separate automatic system within the home itself – want voice control. The survey also found that 48% of Americans with smart home products currently have voice control capability.

Let’s break this down even further to see the who, what, why and how of what’s driving the voice control trend:

Who?

Younger generations are more likely to already have voice capability on their smart home products: Like most other things, Millennials (ages 18-34) are leading the voice control trend. 58 % of Millennials have smart home products and devices that already have voice control features. Compare this to 50% of Gen Xers (ages 35-54) and 26% of Baby Boomers (ages 55+).

When it comes to those with smart home products who want voice control, Gen X rules: Nearly 4 in 5 – or 79% – of Gen Xers have smart home products but want voice control. Millennials aren’t too far behind at 74%, with Boomers trailing at 63%.

Parents are also driving the voice control movement: With their hands full and homes bustling with activity, parents are another group yearning for a voice enabled home. According to the survey, 81% of parents who have smart home products want to control smart home products with voice activation. Furthermore, 65% of parents with smart home products already have voice control on these devices.

What?

The top reason Americans use voice control? Entertainment: 57% of Americans with smart home products use the feature to control smart entertainment. Other reasons include:

The top reason Americans want to use voice control? Also entertainment.: 43% of Americans with smart home products who want voice control would also like to use it to control smart entertainment.

Why?

Because most Americans believe voice control provides a more intuitive user experience and practicality: The most commonly cited benefits for using voice control among respondents were hands-free control at 30%, increased user-friendliness at 17% and flexibility in location at 14%.

How?

Most Americans got into voice control because its prototype is already in our hands – the smartphone: As you could assume, Siri and her peers are driving voice control everywhere. Nearly three quarters of Americans (74%) with smart home products are already using voice control on their smartphones. 

You heard it here first – voice control will continue to reign in the smart home space as more and more voice enabled products flood the market. Stay tuned in the coming days to see what else Coldwell Banker uncovers at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show.

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Coldwell Banker Real Estate and Vivint Smart Home from November 14-16 and from November 18-22, 2016 among 4,108 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among which 923 have any smart home products. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, 

Smart Homes Are No Longer a Futuristic Concept

The smart home has come a long way in just three years. In 2014, two-thirds of consumers with broadband were not familiar with smart-home services or products or where to buy them, according to a white paper from the Consumer Electronics Association and Park Associates. Now, 86 percent of consumers “are confident they know what it means when someone says they have a smart home,” according to a survey conducted by Finn Futures of about 1,000 U.S. adults.

Read more: The Next Big Thing in Smart-Home Tech

Consumers see greater use for smart-home tech, now and in the future. For example, 77 percent of respondents recently surveyed by Finn Futures say they believe it’ll be normal to have a robot in their home within 20 years.

The top three smart home features consumers say they would value most now in a smart home are locks and doors (55 percent); thermostat (44 percent); and lighting (41 percent). A voice-controlled assistant (22 percent) and entertainment (25 percent) lagged behind.

"Emotion plays an important role when it comes to consumers' willingness to adopt connected technology," says Sabrina Horn, managing partner, U.S. technology practice with Finn Partners. "People want to feel in control of their lives and of their loved ones' well-being, so it isn't surprising that we always see peace of mind as the top motivator in smart-home adoption. Communications professionals need to help brands and other connected technology sectors tap into this finding with more visually oriented and multifaceted market awareness campaigns."

Mortgage Rates Stuck in Holding Pattern

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage continues to hover around 4 percent for the fourth consecutive week.

“Mixed economic reports over the last week have anchored the 30-year mortgage rate around the 4 percent mark,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages for the week ending May 11:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.05 percent, with an average 0.5 point, rising from last week’s 4.02 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.57 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.29 percent, with an average 0.5 point, rising from last week’s 3.27 percent. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.81 percent.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.14 percent, with an average 0.5 point, rising from last week’s 3.13 percent average. Last year at this time, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.78 percent.

Source: Freddie Mac

Fannie-Freddie Look to Providing Manufactured Home Financing.

 Mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are reportedly considering providing financing to buyers of manufactured homes soon in a pilot program.

The government-sponsored enterprises say they want to look at easing the burdens of low-income borrowers who may turn to factory-built homes to curb housing costs, according to a draft report released Monday where Fannie and Freddie addressed affordable housing challenges. Fannie and Freddie still need to get the pilot program approved by their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, before they can start.

In 2015, about 12.3 million Americans owned a manufactured home; another 5.4 million rented one, according to U.S. Census data.The government-sponsored enterprises say they want to look at easing the burdens of low-income borrowers who may turn to factory-built homes to curb housing costs, according to a draft report released Monday where Fannie and Freddie addressed affordable housing challenges. Fannie and Freddie still need to get the pilot program approved by their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, before they can start.

Purchasers of manufactured homes usually are not eligible for standard mortgages since they don’t own the land where the home is. As such, they often must turn to a personal property or “chattel” loan, which tends to carry higher interest rates and span a 10- to 20-year time period rather than the common 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for a home loan.

“We want to look at it from a long-term sustainable lens,” says Mike Dawson, Freddie’s single-family vice president. “If we participate, we want to make sure that there are responsible lending guidelines associated with it.”

The mobile-home industry faced a crash in the late 1990s and early 2000s that prompted some lenders to go bankrupt.

“Rural and manufactured housing are inextricably linked,” says Jeffery Hayward, Fannie’s head of multifamily. “The most affordable housing you can find is often a manufactured house in a rural area.”

Hayward says the quality of manufactured homes has improved over the years, making the homes better collateral than in the past for lenders.

Source: Bloomberg (May 8, 2017)

Low housing inventory driving prices higher

No one knows for sure what will happen to interest rates or the housing market. But if you have been thinking about buying or selling your home, now may be a good time to make your move before rates go higher and while demand for housing remains strong. If you have any questions about the local housing market, please give me a call or send me an e-mail. I’m happy to help.

Expect Continued Home Price Growth

Most States in the Next 12 Months

Looking at the values over time in selected states, the median expected price change appears to be increasing again, indicating that respondents expect demand to remain strong, even as home prices continue to rise.[3] In many states, the expected price change in the next 12 months is higher than the expected price change one year ago.

The map below shows the median expected price change of the respondents in the next 12 months at the state level.[2] Thirteen states, led by Washington, Colorado, and Utah, had median expected price growth in the range of four to seven percent. The oil-producing states of Alaska and North Dakota have the lowest median expected price change; respondents expect a decline in Alaska home prices and growth of two percent in North Dakota in the next 12 months

 March 2017 survey, the median expected home price change in the next 12 months was four percent (3.8 percent in February 2017; 3.7 percent in March 2016), based on the March 2017 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey Report. [1] Lack of supply amid strong demand has propped up home prices.