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Some homebuyers are returning to the market as mortgage rates decline from the four-month high they reached last week, according to a new report from Redfin, the combined brokerage and listings portal.

Daily average mortgage rates dropped from 7 percent to about 6.5 percent from March 10 to March 13 in the immediate wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, the company said. The national median home price also fell, dropping 1.8 percent year over year during the four weeks ending March 12, the biggest decline in over a decade.

Previously sidelined buyers reacted quickly, Redfin said: Bay Equity, the company’s mortgage-lending subsidiary, locked a rate on more loans on March 10 than any other day so far this year. Overall, U.S. mortgage-purchase applications increased 7 percent from the week before during the week ending March 10. And touring activity as of March 11 was up about 19 percent from the start of the year, compared with a 22 percent increase at the same time last year, according to data from home tour technology company ShowingTime that Redfin reported.

But overall homebuying demand remains tepid, in large part because housing payments are still near historic highs: The typical American homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment is $2,556, down marginally from last week’s record high but up 24 percent from a year ago, Redfin said. Pending home sales are down 17 percent year over year across the country, the biggest decline in six weeks. Demand is also limited by low supply; new listings of homes for sale posted their biggest annual drop in nearly three months.

“Buyers pounced when rates fell because they’re so volatile right now, which shows that there are plenty of people waiting in the wings for the right time to enter the market. Where mortgage rates go from here largely depends on how the Fed reacts to chaos in the banking industry in the U.S. and abroad, alongside stubbornly high inflation,” Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao said in a statement. “The Fed’s goal at its meeting next week is to achieve a balancing act: Fight inflation while keeping the banking system intact. Even though the European Central Bank hiked interest rates more than expected this morning, it’s unlikely the Fed will follow suit. Instead, we expect them to either raise rates modestly or press pause for the time being, the latter of which would send mortgage rates down and bring back many sidelined buyers and sellers.”

SVB-related interest rate drops could be counteracted by buyers and sellers spooked by fears of a wider economic crisis. And, at least in the Boston area, lower rates may not make much of a difference when inventory is so tight, said Meg Steere, the leading agent in Berkshire Hathaway Commonwealth Real Estate’s Watertown office.

“It’s still a competitive market. There are plenty of multiple-bid situations going on,” she said.

Despite a lower-than-normal number of buyers in the market thanks to the combination of high home prices and high interest rates, demand is still quite strong relative to the number of homes on the market.

“I had a couple buyers looking at open houses this weekend, one of whom said ‘Getting into this house is like a nightclub. The lines are so long.’ They eventually gave up and went home without touring that house,” Steere said.

The result could be a spring market where buyers will feel pressure to waive home inspections and other contingencies just to feel competitive, she said, a turnaround from the fall and winter.

Buyers Reacted Quickly to Crisis-Driven Mortgage Rate Drop

by James Sanna time to read: 2 min
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