Real Estate Market Report: One Month Into 2021

January 2021 has been a good month for real estate, and we have seen mostly positive reports throughout the first month of this new year, with a few minor negativities. Below are some of the highlights from this month’s real estate market report – here’s hoping that this year continues in the same sort of positive progression, with even better results than we have now.

General mortgage rates increase

We have seen a slight increase on mortgage rates, which is fairly normal, especially with each passing year. This month, the fixed rate of an average 30-year mortgage increased by two basis points, making it a 4.2%.

Freddie Mac Market Survey

For the week of January 25, 2021, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate (FRM) on the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey averaged 4.15%, remaining mostly consistent. 15-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.62, and 5-year treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) averaged 3.52%.

Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Applications Survey

There has been a 1% increase in the Refinance Index, a 4.5% increase in the Market Composite Index on a seasonally adjusted basis, and a 6% increase in the Purchase Index on a seasonally adjusted basis. The refinance share of mortgage activity also decreased to 49.4%, although the ARM remained unchanged.

 90-day delinquencies

There has been an unfortunate increase in 90-day mortgage delinquencies, fueled by the effects of the hurricanes, as well as seasonal and calendar-related pressures. 60,000 additional homes became 90-day delinquents during the month of December, although that number is slowly but surely starting to decrease, and we are beginning to see some more positive results as the new year progresses.

Home sales

At the beginning of the month, the seasonally-adjusted estimate of home sales from the end of December was 295,000. The low number resulted in many happy clients and represented a supply of 5.7 months at the current sales rate.