“November’s housing starts report signals strength for the housing market.”  — First American deputy chief economist Odeta Kushi

In unveiling its predictions, the National Association of Realtors also released its top 10 housing-market “hidden gems” for 2022.

“While 2021 single-family starts are expected to end the year 24% higher than the pre-Covid 2019 level, we expect higher interest rates in 2022 will put a damper on housing affordability.” — NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz

Millennials are at the greatest risk of becoming house-rich and cash-poor as the generation is spending the highest percentage of their monthly income on homeownership costs compared to other generations, according to a new Hometap report.

Despite those challenges, there are signs the market continues to shift toward more seasonable norms.

The decline in mortgage rates prompted an uptick in refinancing, with government refinances increasing more than 20% over the week, MBA associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting Joel Kan said in a press release.

With home prices continuing to reach new heights  across the country, many potential homebuyers are seeing the mobile-home market in a brand new light as single-family home prices become less affordable for young and middle-class buyers. 

As more money is being spent on real estate than ever before, the booming market is on pace to shatter records this year, according to a recent CoreLogic report.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced its 2022 conforming loan limits (CLL) for conventional loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Despite higher mortgage rates, purchase applications had a strong week, mostly driven by a 6% increase in conventional loan applications.” — MBA associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting Joel Kan

Investors across the country are looking to cash in on skyrocketing house prices and rents, putting them in competition with new buyers trying to work their way to homeownership. Real estate investors bought a record 18% of the homes sold in the third quarter, according to a new Redfin report.

Nationally, investors bought a record 18% of homes sold in the third quarter of this year, and they are increasingly turning to single-family homes, according to Redfin. 

“If I had to choose only one word to describe September 2021’s housing price data, the word would be ‘deceleration. Housing prices continued to show remarkable strength in September, though the pace of price increases declined slightly.” — S&P DJI managing director Craig Lazzara.

“Motivated by fast-rising rents and the anticipated increase in mortgage rates, consumers that are on strong financial footing are signing contracts to purchase a home sooner rather than later.” — NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun

The demand for housing in the U.S. has reached a new all-time high since 2017, a rare occurrence for this time of year when the market typically slows. According to a Redfin report, a recovering economy and all-time low mortgage rates are critical factors in the current market. 

As the economy recovers from COVID and the housing market gains traction, homeownership is top of mind for Americans, according to the latest survey from Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.