Housing Market Latest: Mortgage Rates Hold, Home Listings Surge

Mortgage rates remained flat this week, while home listings increased to their highest level since 2019.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) held at 6.76 percent, according to the latest Mortgage Market Survey from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). This marks a decrease from the 7.09 percent 30-year FRM this time last year. The 15-year FRM dropped to 5.89 percent from 5.92 percent last week 6.38 percent a year ago.

Housing inventory, meanwhile, surged to 31.1 percent year-over year last week, according to Realtor.com’s housing trends report, marking a six-year high.

Why It Matters

While modest rates and an increase in for-sale houses would ordinarily signal a ripe market for home buyers, recent polls suggest Americans remain pessimistic about the prospects of ownership due to current state of the economy.

The U.S. economic outlook is currently shaky, at least according to the Federal Reserve this week, which warned that the Trump administration’s tariff policies had raised the risks of higher unemployment and accelerated inflation.

What To Know

Home loan rates have remained stable over the past few months, according to Freddie Mac’s Mortgage Market Survey, with 30-year FRMs remaining under 7.0 percent since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Realtor.com said that the recent increase in house listings—the 78th consecutive weekly increase—had pushed total home listings to over 1 million for the first time since December 2019. However, it noted that overall housing supply still remains “well below pre-pandemic norms, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast.”

The reports came in following the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and the Central Bank’s decision to keep rates in the 4.25 to 4.50 percent range despite repeated calls for a cut from Trump.

“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” the FOMC said in a statement. “The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.”

Housing market sentiment also remains gloomy, with more Americans viewing home ownership as out of their financial reach.

According to a Gallup poll conducted April 1 to 14, 45 percent of Americans who do not currently own a home believe they will not buy one for the foreseeable future, up from 37 percent in 2018. Among renters, 68 percent said the reason for not purchasing a home was due to a lack of funds, up from 45 percent in 2013.

Meanwhile, 30 percent anticipate buying one within the next five years, and 23 percent within the next 10 years—the combined 45 percent marks the lowest total Gallup has recorded.

Only 26 percent said that they believed now was a good time to buy a house, compared to 53 percent in 2021, while 72 percent said the opposite.

What People Are Saying

Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said: “Mortgage rates stayed flat this week. At this time last year, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 30 basis points higher and purchase applications were declining. Today, rates are lower and have remained stable for weeks, sparking continued increases in purchase applications.”

Realtor.com economist Jiayi Xu wrote: “Looking ahead, the Fed’s wait-and-see approach is likely to keep mortgage rates at a high-6% in the near term, unless major policy developments or economic shifts occur, such as notable outcomes from the upcoming U.S.-China trade talks scheduled for this weekend.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said the Central Bank’s decision to refrain from interest rate cuts was due to the “heightened uncertainty” that had been caused by Trump’s tariffs, and that these had increased the risks of “higher employment and higher inflation.”

“I think there’s a great deal of uncertainty about, for example, where tariff policies are going to settle out, and also when they do settle out, what will be the implications for the economy for growth and for employment? And I think it’s too early to know that. So, I mean, ultimately we think our policy rate is in a good place to stay as we await further clarity on tariffs and ultimately our implications for the economy.”

Lu Liu, professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told ABC News: “It’s still a tough environment to find a house. On the other hand, it’s unclear whether that environment will get any better.”

What Happens Next?

As economist Xu noted, the Fed’s next move could be informed by the outcome of trade negotiations between the U.S. and China.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are scheduled to meet with a delegation from Beijing this Saturday in Geneva to open a dialogue on trade policy.