The U.S. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Freddie Mac, said on Monday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is expected to average 4.3 percent for 2019, which is below last year's average of 4.6 percent.
Latest data from Freddie Mac showed that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the United States rose to 4.2 percent from previous week's 4.17 percent for the week ending April 25.
"While mortgage rates have risen in recent weeks, they remain lower than where they were a year ago and wage growth has accelerated and is finally growing at the same rate as home prices for the first time in seven years," said Sam Khater, chief economist of Freddie Mac.
Freddie Mac also forecasted that total home sales in the United States could reach 5.98 million units in 2019, higher than the previous year.
Meanwhile, most of the increase is expected to come from existing home sales, said Freddie Mac. However, Freddie Mac noted that the 2019 annual forecast on housing starts was "effectively" lowered to 1.26 million units due to the lower data in January and February.
"We expect to see the result of these low mortgage rates and stronger wage growth translate into better home sales in the coming months, along with better than expected refinance activity for the year," said Khater.
According to Freddie Mac's forecast, the house price is expected to grow 3.5 percent for 2019.
"Unfortunately, first-time homebuyers will likely not realize as much of the benefit with such high demand and price growth for lower-priced homes," added Khater.
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