For the week ending on December 15, 2023, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan fell to 6.83 percent, at the time making it the sixth-straight week of declines. But experts see this trend not stopping in early 2024.
Realtor.com expects rates will have an average of 6.8 percent for the entire year of 2024 and be at 6.5 percent by the end of the year. And while the company does expect median home prices to fall as well, it expects demand for home buying and overall inventory to remain low.
Redfin reported that 2023 was the least affordable market for home buying since 2013, as only 16 percent of homes for sale were affordable on median income. Fortunately, the company expects that will change in 2024, pointing to inflation cooling down and mortgage rates falling.
“We’ll likely see a jump in home purchases in the new year,” says Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa, “as buyers take advantage of lower mortgage rates and more listings after the holidays.”