Black knight: as home prices set yet another record in august, pushing annual growth rate sharply higher, small but active cash-out refinance market defies traditional analysis

Home prices rose an exceptionally strong seasonally adjusted +0.68% from july; august's non-adjusted gain (+0.24%) was more than 60% larger than the 25-year same-month average (+0.15%) along with a lower starting point due to late-2022 price drops, august's increase was enough to push the annual rate of home price growth to +3.8%, up from +2.4% in july and just +0.25% back in may according to the ice home price index (formerly the black knight hpi), this marked the third consecutive month of home price growth reacceleration after annual home price growth slowed to effectively flat earlier this year nationally, prices set a fourth consecutive monthly record and are now 2.5% above the 2022 peak on a seasonally adjusted basis, with two thirds of major markets having surpassed their own prior highs mortgage origination activity remains overwhelmingly centered around purchase loans, which are expected to dominate the market through 2024 and should remain the primary focus of lenders nine of 10 borrowers who refinanced in august raised their interest rate to tap equity, with an average increase of +2.34 percentage points; simple "in the money" analytics miss this market almost entirely cash-outs are primarily being sought by borrowers with lower balances – $165k on average – who are looking to withdraw larger amounts of equity at lower rates than current heloc offerings average cash-out credit scores are down more than 40 points in recent years, as higher credit borrowers who can qualify are likely opting for helocs to tap equity, leaving a lower credit score residual among cash-outs jacksonville, fla. , oct. 2, 2023 /prnewswire/ -- today, black knight, now part of intercontinental exchange, inc. (nyse:ice), released its october 2023 ice mortgage monitor report, based on the company's industry-leading mortgage, real estate and public records data sets.
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