CHM Blog

Market pendulum swings toward spring homebuyers

When Real Estate News’ Dave Gallagher asked the question, “Is it starting to look rosy for buyers this spring?,” he was referring to how the intensity appears to be dialing back in the Mid-Atlantic real estate market. Good news for homebuyers who want to solidify a deal this spring.

“A new Bright MLS survey conducted among about 3,000 agents found that fewer bidding wars took place in the region — which includes Washington, D.C. — during the first quarter of 2025,” says Gallagher.”With inventory on the rise, this spring has been favorable for buyers.”

He also quotes Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant who says, ”While it's not officially a buyer's market yet, the pendulum is clearly swinging away from the intensely competitive conditions of recent years. Buyers are seeing more options and facing fewer obstacles compared to this time last year."

For a number of buyers, it's evidently not taking as long this year to find a home. “Nearly 40% of those who closed on a home during the first three months of 2025 searched for less than a month — double the share who spent the same amount of time house hunting during the first quarter of 2024, the survey found,” says Gallagher.

A good 50% of buyers only had to make one offer to snag a home — another increase that signals buyer conditions are easing, he reports. Sturdevant agrees: "This marks a notable change from the past few years, when buyers were competing over a dearth of inventory and typically had to make offers on multiple homes before they reached the settlement table.”

For first time buyers, however, it’s still not a cakewalk. Just 43% closed on a home after making just one offer, compared to 51% of repeat buyers.

Are these lucky buyers getting everything they want? Well. Not everything. “Compromises remain necessary,” says Gallagher: “Though competition appeared to be easing for buyers, nearly half (45%) still said they made compromises on their home wish list, with location serving as the most common trade-off buyers made, followed by home quality and price.”

And those who settle for homes "as is" means those buyers felt lingering competition pressure and concern about missing out, according to Sturtevant, who adds that high rates are discouraging fewer buyers.

Interestingly enough, mortgage rates might not need to fall much in order to get buyers off the sidelines, says Gallagher. “More than 80% of agent survey respondents said the buyers they worked with found it ‘very easy or ‘somewhat easy’ to qualify for a mortgage.” Add to that the fact that 42% fewer potential buyers this year hit pause on their search for a home, and it appears a shift is indeed occurring. That number is being compared with nearly 60% of buyers who gave up during the first quarter of 2024.

If rates continue to decline, "that could be enough, along with more inventory, to entice more buyers into the market this spring," Sturtevant wrote.

RealEstateNews, TBWS

How Rates Move:

Conventional and Government (FHA and VA) lenders set their rates based on the pricing of Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) which are traded in real time, all day in the bond market. This means rates or loan fees (mortgage pricing) moves throughout the day, being affected by a variety of economic or political events. When MBS pricing goes up, mortgage rates or pricing generally goes down. When they fall, mortgage pricing goes up. Tracking these securities real-time is critical. For more information about the rate market, contact me directly. I'm among few mortgage professionals who have access to live trading screens during market hours.

Rates Currently Trending: Neutral

Mortgage rates are under pressure today. The MBS market worsened by -32 bps last week. This may have been enough to increase mortgage rates or fees. The market experienced high volatility last week.

This Week's Rate Forecast: Neutral

Three Things: These are the three areas that have the greatest ability to impact rates. 1) The Fed, 2) Central Banks and 3) Domestic News.

1) The Fed: On Wednesday we will get the FOMC's Interest Rate Decision and Policy Statement. There will NOT be an Economic Projections at this meeting. There is not expected to be any interest rate change at this meeting but we may see some commentary/groundwork being laid for a cut in July. We will get a live presser with Fed Chair Powell afterwards. Then we will get a barrage of Feds on Friday.

2) Central Banks: The FOMC is not the only game in town as we will also hear from the Bank of England which is expected to cut rates by 25BPS.

3) Domestic News: The biggest economic release of the week is Monday's ISM Services PMI. Consumer Credit will also get some attention.

Treasury Auction: Here is this week's auction schedule:

05/05 3 year note

05/06 10 year note

05/08 30 year bond

This Week's Potential Volatility: High

This morning markets started under some pressure. Volatility has started at moderate levels but will likely increase on Wednesday.

Bottom Line:

If you are looking for the risks and benefits of locking your interest rate in today or floating your loan rate, contact your mortgage professional to discuss it with them.

Richard Sardella has been actively managing and providing services in the mortgage industry for over 30 years. Richard serves on the board of directors as President of Colorado Home Mortgages Inc.

All information furnished has been forwarded to you and is provided by thetbwsgroup only for informational purposes. Forecasting shall be considered as events which may be expected but not guaranteed. Neither the forwarding party and/or company nor thetbwsgroup assume any responsibility to any person who relies on information or forecasting contained in this report and disclaims all liability in respect to decisions or actions, or lack thereof based on any or all of the contents of this report.

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