“Mortgage Companies Are Desperate”: What’s Next for Homes and Mortgages in 2024?

In February, Zillow said home prices had bottomed out. Was the market about to rally again?

Zillow predicted that U.S. home prices would climb at the healthy pace of 6.5%, from August 2023 to August 2024. Of course, home prices usually do go up over time.

Now, Zillow economists have slashed their predictions. Their new call? Expect U.S. property prices to be up only about 5% by the time we get to August 2024.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo thinks most of the valuation gains homeowners made in 2023 will melt back down. And then we’ll go into 2024 with prices down almost 3% from the market’s 2022 peak.

Why so gloomy? It’s about the mortgage rates.

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Some Offices Are Bringing Their Remote Workers Back. Will This Force Homeowners to Sell?

A tidy wooden desk setup featuring a white keyboard, a spiral notebook, and a coaster with a cup. Above the desk, the handwritten words "WELCOME BACK" are prominently displayed on a white paper, symbolizing the return to office or a shift from remote working.

“They need us. They won’t force us to come back to the office!”

Or will they?

During the pandemic, remote work became a survival tactic. Some companies liked the new ways. They said they’d keep remote or hybrid working options available indefinitely.

For a time, stories abounded of employees who went remote, moved out of the cities, and bought homes further afield.

Now, news headlines point to high-profile companies calling people back to their office hubs. Are these return-to-office (RTO) policies causing people to ditch homes they bought during the height of the pandemic?

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Frustrated Home Buyer? It’s Not You. Affordability Is the Worst It’s Been in a Century

Given today’s incomes, mortgage interest rates, and the prices on homes, we just had the least affordable month for U.S. housing in our century.

September 2023 was the second record-breaking month this year. We might be headed for a third record before the year’s over.  

In fact, the last time it was this hard to buy a home was back in the early 1980s.

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“Assume” Makes a Great Deal for You and Me, Right? What to Know About Your Assumable Mortgage

Got a government-backed mortgage with an assumable loan? If you decide to sell, a buyer might jump at the chance to get, say, a 3% interest rate instead of something between 6% and 7%.

An assumable loan lets the mortgage stay on the home, even though you transfer the home’s deed to a new owner. So, you can transfer your existing mortgage along with your home’s title. Lucky buyer!

If you’re selling a home, you might point to a possible mortgage assumption among the features you advertise in your listing. And if you’re looking to buy, it could be worth the effort to seek out a home with an assumable loan in 2023 and beyond.

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