mortgage rates

A new normal It's undeniable that the real estate market has been through a very abnormal period since the pandemic started. The graph below shows the % change in pending sales every month from Jan 2018 to Aug 2022. You see a big dip in April of 2020 when the stay-at-home order was implemented. You also see the pending sales dwindling as the interest rate started to rise in 2022. The Bay Area...

A looming slowdown The national housing market is sending signals of a slowdown, including in the Bay Area. As I mentioned in my last blog post, the real estate market fundamentals are changing very fast, and I want to keep you well informed to adapt to these changes.  The trends are changing. More homes are available for sale and potential buyers now have increased negotiation power. In San...

July is the first month in the recent ten years when all counties median home prices dropped compared to the previous month. In June's data, Solano was the only one that managed to maintain a 1.5% gain Is the economy in recession? The technical answer is yes. It's a widely accepted standard that when the GPD shrinks for two consecutive quarters, it's considered a recession. Why? Why? The answer has...

The end of inflation is not near The end of high inflation does not seem to be anywhere near. In June 2022, the rate of 9.1% was the highest since November 1981! This increase is above the forecast of 8.6% that most economists were expecting for this year.  No sector of the economy is untouched. Food, construction materials, and energy prices have gone through the roof. The majority, 71% to be...

The tide is turning. It's becoming more apparent that the seller's market will turn into a buyer's market for the foreseeable months in 2022. June is the 2nd consecutive month where month-over-month sale prices dropped across almost all counties in the bay area. As more media coverage about the home price dropping, more sellers will go into this panic mode and want to put their homes on the...

Let's quickly go over April's monthly data. Home prices continue to go up as the Spring real estate season kicks into full gear. San Mateo County, as usual, continues to lead the price scoreboard. On the other hand, Marin County had the highest percentage increase compared to the previous year. In the last month's post, we explained that the effect of the interest rate jump will not show up in the...

There isn't a whole lot of change to the real estate market in the past month. The trend of prices going up continue from last month's trend. Mortgage Demand This month, one of the biggest news is 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate broke 5% for the first time since 2011. Many of our clients are wondering how this is going to impact the demand for real estate. To answer this question, I'd like to...

Highest gas prices in America It is no surprise to us who drive that gas prices have climbed to unprecedented highs. In the Bay Area, the price per gallon has reached $5.00, and above, Californians pay the highest taxes for gasoline in the U.S., further increasing its cost.  No signs of improvement Relief is nowhere in sight for two reasons. First, the war in Ukraine has nearly closed Russian oil...

Is a Spring collapse coming? As Russia's invasion into Ukraine continued, money flew into the US stock money just as our last month's blog post predicted. This inflow gave temporary support to the stock market. Looking at February 2022's market data, we can see that the % of sales dropped pretty much across all the Bay Area counties. Many youtube videos (here and there, for example) have concluded...

Impact Of The Ukraine Crisis Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, all eyes around the globe are on this country. Attention is also on how the US will respond to the crisis. Just as most predicted, the US will not have military confrontation with Russia. Instead, the US will only impose the toughest sanctions. As a reader of this post, you must wonder how this conflict is going to impact the US real...