Condo ‘blacklist’ killing sales in disaster-prone areas
Why Fannie Mae is keeping tabs on condos: While the finance giant isn't a direct lender, it buys and resells large numbers of mortgages — but only if those loans are adequately protected.
Housing optimism up ‘substantially’ compared to a year ago
Consumer sentiment has continued to trend upward, reaching 73.1 in December — "substantially above year-ago levels," said Mark Palim, Fannie Mae SVP and chief economist.
Record share of consumers expect mortgage rates to fall
"Despite significantly greater optimism that mortgage rates and home prices will move in a more favorable direction for potential homebuyers, most consumers remain apprehensive about the housing market and continue to point to the lack of affordability and supply as the chief reasons for their pessimism," said Palim.
Consumers are (slightly) more optimistic about buying a home
And the latest confidence index from the National Association of Realtors found that real estate professionals are feeling less optimistic that buyer traffic will increase year-over-year in the next three months.