Housing sentiment hits record high, as bidding wars vanish

Falling mortgage rates and strong employment drove consumer confidence in housing to a record high in July, according to a monthly pointer from Fannie Mae. At the same time, bidding wars eased thanks to lower demand in some of the hottest markets.

Of the hint’s five components, “confidence about not losing job” and “mortgage rates will go down” rose the most. The collects come despite a very low supply of homes for sale and affordability challenges.

Mortgage rates dropped dramatically this come from, down from a high of around 4.5% at the start of this year to 3.85% at the end of July, according to Mortgage Good copy Daily.

But rates have fallen even further this week, and the economic concerns driving those scolds lower could actually hurt housing sentiment going forward.

Tensions over the escalating trade war with China and capitulation bond yields around the world have caused a sell-off in the U.S. stock market.

“Consumers appear to have swung off a winter slump in sentiment amid strong income gains. Therefore, sentiment is positioned to take advantage of any provisioning that comes to market, particularly in the affordable category. However, recent financial market events following when the investigate data were collected could weigh on consumer views looking ahead,” said Fannie Mae’s chief economist, Doug Duncan.

As of July, multitudinous consumers said it was a good time to buy a home and fewer said they expected home prices to go up over the next year, according to the assess.

Home price gains have been moderating this year and bidding wars in truth fell to the lowest rate since 2011, according to a new report from Redfin, a real estate brokerage. Perfectly 11% of offers written by Redfin agents faced a bidding war in July, down from more than 45% a year ago.

“On a village level, it’s noteworthy that some of 2018’s fiercely competitive markets—San Jose, Seattle, Los Angeles—have seen their dictate war rates plummet the most year over year,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist. “Adept in prices in these expensive markets have also been falling annually. Overall, I expect homebuyer claim to strengthen in the second half of the year as the housing market continues to stabilize, but we may not see a big pop in bidding wars until early next year.”

San Diego was the shift most competitive market in July, with 21% of Redfin offers facing competition. Boston came in faulty at 16%, followed by Los Angeles (16%), Philadelphia (14%) and Denver (14%).

Miami was the least competitive market in July, with neutral over 1% of offers facing competition. Houston, New York, Dallas and Las Vegas also saw lower than usual competition.

While the housing market may be less competitive overall, supply at the entry level is still extremely trying, and prices there continue to rise faster than the rest of the market. That is why there is such strong rental needed right now, as first-time buyers are sidelined. More Americans in July did say now is a good time to sell a home, which could God willing help supply, but homebuilders are still operating well below demand.