This is ‘really hurting’ homeownership: Katrina Campins

Breaking news, new mortgage rates reaching the highest point since July. The 30-year fixed mortgage is climbing to, get this, 6.91%. Fox Business real estate contributor Katrina Camp is digging deeper into what this means. So Katrina, the Fed is in a cutting cycle for their rates, yet mortgage rates keep getting to the highs and highs and highs, and this is the highest since July. What's going on here? They do. Thanks so much for having me today. It seems like Americans just can't catch a break when it comes to the housing market. The prices also continue to rise. As we saw with a report released on Tuesday, prices in October were 3.6% higher than they were a year ago that same month, and then interest rates continue to stay steady around this mark. So you have an increase in home prices, an increase in mortgage rates, but I think the biggest topic and something that not enough people are speaking to are property taxes and insurance. And this is a topic that unfortunately is just so incredibly important now, because the mortgage companies obviously have a certain perspective on things, but the insurance companies, especially in Florida, are hiking up rates to the point where insurance and property taxes are becoming more expensive than your principal for your mortgage. And people simply can't afford this. And when you speak about the rental, you know, the renting market, so many, many people have now decided to rent their properties because they can't sell them. The rent, many times, is not even covering the cost of the mortgage, property insurance and taxes. And I truly believe that these insurance companies, like Citizens being one of them, and I normally don't call people out, but I really am baffled by the fact that they're taking advantage of homeowners in the state of Florida. I'm seeing insurance premiums skyrocket and more than double. And people just don't have an option. So many people are not even able to pay their mortgage because they're paying their insurance and they're paying their property taxes. And this is really hurting home ownership. So I'm really here to call out these insurance companies. Something's got to give and something's got to change. I also want to ask you about this. Seventy nine percent of mortgages are under five percent. Sixty percent are under four percent. Twenty three percent is under three percent. These are people that aren't going anywhere. So the supply shortage is going to stay here for generations, isn't it? Well, it is. And to your point, there's many people that are still locked into those rates, right? And they have no incentive to move. But we did see an increase in supply this past year. And that was really that was really caused by people just having life changes or people not being able to afford their homes for the reasons that I just mentioned. So or relocation, you know, jobs and so forth. So life issues, the inventory that has come on the market. And we do have more inventory in the market. A lot of it is stale. It's not moving as quickly as people anticipated because one, sometimes the list price is too high. But then also mortgage rates, as you mentioned, are too high. You know, and the cost inflation, just the cost of living is so outrageously expensive nowadays. And I'm really hoping that when Trump takes office and we have more of a positive atmosphere with this administration, that things are going to change because something needs to change in the housing market. It's just stale. Yeah, Katrina Kamens, we got to leave it there. I appreciate it. Yeah, you have the collision of high mortgage rates and low supply. We're going to have to see how it shakes out in 2025. Thank you for your insight on this. I appreciate it.