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Real estate daily market update: December 14, 2017

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 We’ll add more market news briefs throughout the day. Check back to read the latest.

Most recent market news

Thursday, December 14

Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey

“As widely expected, the Fed increased the federal funds target rate this week for the third time in 2017,” said Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac. “The market had already priced in the rate hike so long term interest rates, including mortgage rates hardly moved.

“Mortgage rates held relatively flat across the board, with the 30-year fixed mortgage rate inching down 1 basis point to 3.93 percent in this week’s survey. Mortgage rates have been in a holding pattern for the fourth quarter, remaining within a 10 basis point range since October.”

News from earlier this week

Wednesday, December 13

Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey

Zillow analysis of U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey: Single-family rentals increasingly concentrated among bottom-tier homes

“For the past 10 years, the number of single-family homes that are rented has grown steadily and remains near the highest levels ever recorded,” said Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas.

“The combination of foreclosures and growing rental demand following the housing crash was an attractive opportunity for investors — large and small — who were able to buy foreclosed homes and use them to meet the rental demand. At the same time, many long-time owners have opted to hold onto their homes as rentals even after they decide to move somewhere else.

“With such a large portion of single-family homes being rented out, and with new homes being built more slowly than the market needs, home values will continue to rise, particularly among the most affordable homes with the highest demand.”

Tuesday, December 12

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Applications Survey (BAS)

“New homes sales continued to recover in November from the impact of hurricanes, up just a bit on a seasonally adjusted basis over the month, and nearly 13 percent higher than a year ago, according to our projections from monthly application activity,” said Lynn Fisher, MBA vice president of research and economics.

“Looking ahead to 2018, filling open construction jobs will remain a main challenge for the homebuilding industry.”

ATTOM Data Solutions Q3 2017 U.S. Home Flipping Report

“Home flipping profits continue to be squeezed by a dwindling inventory of distressed properties available to purchase at a discount and increasing competition from fair-weather home flippers often willing to operate on thinner margins,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.

“A more than nine-year low in the ratio of flips per investor is evidence of this increased competition, which is pushing many investors to new metro areas that often have weaker market fundamentals but also come with a bigger supply of discounted distressed properties to flip.”

For the report, a home flip is defined as a property that is sold in an arms-length sale for the second time within a 12-month period based on publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions in more than 950 counties accounting for more than 80 percent of the U.S. population (see full methodology below).

Monday, December 11

Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI)

Source: Fannie Mae

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