By coinnews 
00:00 Brad Smith
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage applications rose nearly 10% to hit the highest level since September, as tariff-related uncertainty sent mortgage rates lower. Joining me now to break down what the data tells us about the housing market, we’ve got Yahoo Finance senior reporter Claire Boston. Claire, what do we know?
00:19 Claire Boston
Hi, Brad. So, to break down this data a little bit, we have purchase applications up 9% week over week, and then we have refinancing applications up 35% week over week. That is 93% higher than a year ago. Um, but what we are seeing in this data is that this will probably, probably be very short-lived. This was a result of basically anyone who was able to make a mortgage application in those days when treasury yields and mortgage rates fell immediately after tariff liberation day. Um, we have since seen a complete reversal of bond yields here, and mortgage rates are headed back up. So I would not expect this kind of application action to last another week here. Uh, but things are changing really quickly, so we’ll have to see.
01:10 Brad Smith
In some additional data, realtor.com found that US home buyers put down record down payments in 2024. What does that data mean for the market right now?
01:24 Claire Boston
Right. So, this is just another sign that houses are still really, really expensive right now. I believe those down payments were up 14%. Um, generally speaking, people don’t typically put 20% down, it’s more like 14% on average. But still, whenever you see that number go higher, it just means that housing is more expensive. It’s going to take people longer to save. And I think right now, people are looking at their down payments, and they’re a little scared, you know, especially if they have them in the stock or the bond market. Uh, you know, just kind of seeing how far markets have fallen in the past couple days, uh, it it’s it’s a scary time, maybe if you’re thinking about making that home purchase decision, but you haven’t actually put money down yet.
02:11 Brad Smith
And finally here, the National Association of Realtors found that homeowners spent over $600 billion on remodeling in 2024. So what projects should potential sellers be looking at?
02:25 Claire Boston
Right. I think with remodeling, it’s quite interesting. People think that they need to redo their bathroom, or redo their kitchen. But actually, it’s a lot of the smaller things that really move the needle and help houses sell. A lot of the realtors in this survey are suggesting paint your whole house, even just paint a room. Uh, you know, anything to kind of like brighten up that space a little bit. Um, you know, potentially redoing a closet. Uh, they also said that, um, you know, just adding a new front door, you know, relatively cheap things, are really what potential buyers want to see.
03:03 Brad Smith
All right. So, maybe put down that matte black pint of paint that you were thinking about picking up.
03:11 Claire Boston
Yeah, why I think that’s the way to go.
03:13 Brad Smith
That’s the way to go. Okay. All right, Claire, thanks so much. Appreciate it.