August 06, 2019
Freddie Mac Expects Mortgage Originations to Increase Through 2019
Late 2018 saw some careful watchers of the real estate market showing signs of mild skittishness, as mortgage prices began to rise and home prices began to slow their pace of increase. But that, it seems, may have been a mere hiccup, as mortgage rates have since begun to fall again. Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprise established in 1970 to increase the secondary market for US mortgages—more officially known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation—watches the trends in the real estate market quite closely itself, as one would expect from one of the forty largest revenue-producing corporations in the United States whose focus is narrowed squarely upon that exact market. And those experts whom Freddie Mac has tasked with predicting market trends believe that mortgage originations are likely to once again increase as 2019 progresses.
In a late February report released by Freddie Mac, the real estate giant posited that the US economy as a whole is poised to continue its growth (though at a modest pace), and that the housing market would post a bit of bounce-back growth through 2019. Indeed, the average fixed-rate mortgage rate Freddie predicts for 2019 is in the range of 4.6 percent—though it does expect it to rise again in 2020 to around 4.9 percent.
Meanwhile, home sales are also expected to increase. 2018 saw 1.26 million housing starts—and Freddie predicts this number will rise to around 1.29 million starts in 2019, and that (despite the likely rise in mortgage rates mentioned above) 2020’s number of housing starts will potentially increase to around 1.36 million. This would mean that total home sales would increase through 2019 to 6.10 million, and rise further to 6.12 million in 2020.
Mortgage originations for single-family homes are predicted to increase 2.6 percent during 2019, and then to remain steady in 2020.
So it’s a good time to buy. And when you buy a house, you want to be sure your purchase comes with a clear title, in order to avoid problems at closing. Topouzis & Associates, P.C. is your bulwark against problems of the past. We do title searches and ensure you are gaining clear title to your property—and we back our services with offerings of title insurance (click here), in case someone along the line of ownership did something that will weaken your claim to title at some point in the future.
