By Julia Carpenter
Updated March 15, 2021 1:46 pm ET

Mortgage rates are on the rise after nearly a year of record lows, providing a nudge to homeowners who want to refinance but didn’t get around to it yet.

Does it still make sense to call up your lender and file an application? There is time to figure it out. Here are some questions to consider:

What rate makes sense for me?
First find the difference between your current mortgage rate and the potential savings of a refinance offer. The rate for a refi will vary based on the particular homeowner. Lenders consider credit history, income and home equity when evaluating applications.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 3.05% for the week of March 11, according to Freddie Mac. While that is higher than historic lows reached last summer, homeowners with rates above 4% could still benefit from refinancing.

Consider how many months it would take for you to recoup the costs of closing on a refi, along with how long you’ll be staying at this home. If you can recoup closing costs within two years and plan to stay in your house for longer, the savings on interest means the math will likely work out in your favor.

For the rest of the story:

Mortgage Rates Are Rising. Read This Before You Refinance. - WSJ

U.S. Existing-Home Sales Dropped 17.8% in April

W.S.J.

Sales of previously owned homes plunged in April, as the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country’s economic activity and sellers and buyers stayed on the sidelines. 

Existing-home sales dropped 17.8% in April, the biggest monthly decline since July 2010, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.33 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Previously owned homes make up most of the housing market.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a 19.5% decline.

Stay-at-home orders prevented real-estate agents from showing homes in person in some states, and widespread job losses and tightening credit requirements have made it more difficult for buyers to qualify for loans.

While the number of transactions declined, prices continued to rise, as sellers opted to take their houses off the market or wait until later to sell them, limiting the supply of homes for sale. The median existing-home price rose 7.4% from a year earlier to $286,800.

“Price appreciation in the 7% range is unhealthy,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “The only way for [price growth to slow] is to get more listings and also more home construction.”

Homes typically go under contract a month or two before the contract closes, so the April data largely reflects purchase decisions made in February or March.

The spring is typically the most active season for home sales, as families look to move over the summer before a new school year starts. About 40% of the year’s sales typically take place from March through June.

Some real-estate brokers and economists say home-shopping demand has started to rise in recent weeks, as parts of the country have loosened restrictions.

“The housing market here is already back,” said Kris Lindahl, chief executive of Kris Lindahl Real Estate in Minneapolis. “We have so much pent-up demand from the spring market that most everything is still in multiple offers.”

Existing-home sales fell the most in the West, at 25%, and in the South, at 17.9%, according to the NAR data.

Kevin Vogelsang of Escondido, Calif., put his house on the market in February and went under contract in May, after multiple buyers made offers and then backed out. “We would have sold [in March or April] without the pandemic, I’m certain of it,” he said. “The pandemic just caused a lot of concern” among shoppers, he said.

At the current sales pace, there was a 4.1-month supply of homes on the market at the end of April. Existing-home sales were down 17.2% in April from a year earlier.

Other housing-sector indicators also showed sharp declines in April. Housing starts, a measure of U.S. home-building, dropped 30.2% in April from March, the biggest decline on record, the Commerce Department said this week. Residential permits, which can be a bellwether for future home construction, fell 20.8%.

About one in five U.S. home builders cut prices in April to increase sales or prevent cancellations, according to a National Association of Home Builders survey.

U.S. home-builder confidence rose in May after collapsing at an unprecedented rate in April, the NAHB reported this week. The association’s housing market index rose to 37 this month, up from 30 in April.

By: Nicole Friedman

Updated May 21, 2020 10:25 am ET

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WSJ - 6/21/2019

WASHINGTON—Sales of previously owned homes rose strongly in May, a sign that demand for housing picked up as mortgage rates continued to ease last month. Sales rose 2.5% in May from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected sales would rise 1.2% to a rate of 5.25 million in May.

Compared with a year earlier, sales in May declined 1.1%. Existing-home sales were revised higher for April, to a rate of 5.21 million, the same pace as in March.

The national median sale price for a previously owned home last month was $277,700, up 4.8% from a year earlier and the strongest monthly pace of growth since August 2018, the NAR said Friday. It marked the 87th straight month of year-over-year gains.

A strong job market and wage growth all bode well for the housing market currently, although low inventory and high prices have curbed those solid fundamentals somewhat.

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