Downtick in Rates, Uptick in Worry

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased three basis points to 4.83 percent, per Freddie Mac, offering borrowers some relief. Meanwhile, experts wonder how much more housing has to give before a downturn occurs.

The housing market's energy level is causing an increasing number of experts and watchers to become concerned, as home prices had the slowest appreciation rate in two years in August 2018, per the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller data. Robert Shiller, economist and co-founder of the eponymous index, recently said that current market conditions reminded him of the conditions in 2006, MarketWatch reports. Yet, other market analysts hope that this signals greater balance in the market, allowing more buyers to enter. 

And David Blitzer, who manages the Case-Shiller report at S&P Dow Jones Indices, told MarketWatch that he thinks the market is at an inflection point. “For 11 months straight, up until July, the national index has gone up by an annual rate of more than 6 percent,” Blitzer said. “Inflation’s 2 percent, plus or minus, wage increases are between 2 and 3 percent, so home prices are going up almost twice as fast as anything else in sight. That shouldn’t happen forever. Something’s got to give in a market, whether it’s buying houses or groceries. So I’ve been waiting to see what gives.”

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