Housing Policy & Data The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.90 percent from 3.88 percent last week. Rates on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.13 percent from 3.11 percent, an all-time low.
Existing-home sales were down in March but continue to outpace last year, while inventory tightened and home prices are showing further signs of stabilizing, according to the monthly report released by the National Association of Realtors. Total existing-home sales declined 2.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.48 million in March, but are 5.2 percent above the 4.26 million-unit pace in March 2011. Total housing inventory in March declined 1.3 percent to 2.37 million existing homes available for sale and listed inventory is 21.8 percent below a year ago and well below the record of 4.04 million in July 2007. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $163,800 in March, up 2.5 percent from March 2011.
Last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that it has directed both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop a new approach to completing short sales in a timely manner. Banks routinely take longer to approve short sales because they are more complex than regular home sales and often involve multiple parties. Loan servicers that collect payments for Fannie and Freddie will now be required to make a decision within 30 days of receiving an offer for a purchase of a short sale. These new steps are designed to help make the process more transparent and timely.
