OHCS sunsets their Oregon Bond Program and is updating their flex program adding significant improvements! This program is great for low to moderate income earners. While being a first-time homebuyer is not required it does improve the program. Currently first-time homebuyers that make less than $125,000 annually can purchase a primary single-family home (condo, townhome, pud, and manufactured all acceptable) in OR (following conforming guidelines) with a 3% down payment and a 4% DPA second loan that can apply to closing costs and down payment. If they make less than 80% of AMI (approximately $93k) they can qualify for a 5% DPA silent second (no payment). The rates are great for low down conventional loans and FHA loans and they are set by the state. As an example, Iran numbers for a client this week who made less than 80% of AMI. For a $300,000 detached condo all his downpayment was covered as was a portion of closing costs, and the rest of the closing costs could be negotiated with the seller – having the client come in with
Home Sales – the National Associaton of Realtors (NAR) released their Existing Home Sales report and it showed a 4.9% decline in volume from January but sales are up 2% year over year. Homes are on averaging 41 days on market (up from 36 last year) and 15% of homes sold above list price. The median home price is $396,9000 up 4.8% year over year. First-time homebuyers comprised 28% of sales which is flat from last year. There is approximately 3.5-months’ supply of homes (up from 3.2 in December) which is tighter than a balanced market of 4.6 months.
Fed Update – the Fed released their minutes and the bond market liked it. The highlight was that the Fed will discontinue their ‘balance sheet runoff.’ The Federal Reserve holds a lot of MBS and Treasuries that have set maturity dates. Every month roughly $40B in combined MBS and Treasuries has been ‘falling off their balance sheet.’ Going forward they will maintain a ‘net neutral’ policy and repurchase $40B a month commensurate to the amount running off.
Home Values – Redfin reported that home values gained $2.5T in 2025 to reach nearly $50T total. This was a 5% year over year gain.
Mortgage Applications to purchase homes fell 6% last week and are up 7% year over year. Refinances fell 7% and are up 39% year over year.