Rates rise further this week…

"The combination of upbeat economic data and the U.S. government credit rating downgrade caused mortgage rates to rise this week," said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist, in a press release. "Despite higher rates and lower purchase demand, home prices have increased due to very low unsold inventory."

Price match guarantee extended through August!

Owners with a rate above 5% are nearly twice as likely to sell

Homeowners are nearly twice as willing to sell if their mortgage rate is 5% or higher, but just one in five mortgaged homes meet that criteria, according to Zillow’s latest survey on mortgage rates and housing inventory.

• 90% of mortgage holders reported having a rate less than 6%

• 80% reported a rate of less than 5%

• 33% reported a rate of less than 3%

Even so, nearly a quarter of homeowners are considering selling their home in the next three years, or currently have their home listed for sale. This is significantly higher than the 15% of homeowners who said the same one year ago. That suggests inventory could be on the rise soon…

Motivation to sell? About two-thirds said they’re looking to upgrade to a nicer home, while 45% cited a growing family.

Homeowner equity climbs to a record high

49 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the second quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than half of their estimated market values.

That’s up about 2 percentage points from the previous quarter — and it’s higher than the peak levels reached last year before higher interest rates slowed down the housing market. By comparison, the share of equity-rich mortgages at the end of 2019 — before the pandemic hit — was around 27%.

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