Rates Still Flat, Sales Outlook Remains Uncertain

While experts question the health of the housing market, interest rates on home loans were flat this week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.45 percent, per Freddie Mac.

Rates have held at this level for three weeks; 15-year adjustable-rate mortgages also held at 3.88 percent. MarketWatch reports that fixed-rate mortgages track the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which has been volatile of late, due in part to concern over cooling global economies. With rates remaining low, some believe that more buyers will take advantage and purchase a home before further increases, yet existing-home sales "plummeted" in December 2018, hitting a three-year low, signaling that buyers still find the nation's for-sale stock too expensive.

Higher rates in and of themselves probably aren’t enough to quell demand. It’s more likely that some combination of rising rates, sturdy home price gains, a shaky political landscape and uncertain personal tax situations, along with the perennial problem of not enough houses to buy in the price categories where they’re needed, are the primary factors. The question is whether the housing market can overcome most or all of those headwinds in the busy spring season.

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