The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.01% this week, posting a sharp rise after spending nearly four months below 3%. Economists expect mortgage rates to continue to increase modestly over the next few months.

“Mortgage rates rose across all loan types this week as the 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest point since June,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Many factors led to this increase, including the Federal Reserve communicating that it will taper its support of the capital markets, the broadening of inflation, and emerging energy supply shortages, which compound other labor and materials shortages.”

An increase in mortgage rates over the next few months—even though expected to be slight—“will likely have an impact on home prices, causing them to moderate slightly after increasing over the last year,” Khater adds.

Still, mortgage rates are hovering near their record lows. “Consumers shouldn’t panic,” Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting for the National Association of REALTORS®, writes on the association’s blog. “Keep in mind that even though rates will increase in the following months, these rates will still be historically low.” NAR forecasts the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to average 3.5% by mid-2022.

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Sept. 30:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.01%, with an average 0.7 point, up from a 2.88% average last week. A year ago, 30-year rates averaged 2.88%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.28%, with an average 0.6 point, increasing from last week’s 2.15% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.36%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.48%, with an average 0.3 point, increasing from last week’s 2.43% average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.90%.

Freddie Mac reports average commitment rates along with average points to better reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining a mortgage.

More Americans are desiring bigger homes since the pandemic—and builders are responding. The share of new single-family homes with four or more bedrooms posted a sharp uptick, unlike in recent years, the National Association of Home Builders reports on its Eye on Housing blog.

The share of single-family homes started with four bedrooms or more rose from 42.6% in 2019 to 45.2% in 2020.

“These developments are linked to changes in the makeup of home buyers from the previous years,” Litic Murali reports on NAHB’s Eye on Housing blog. “In 2020, the detrimental economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a low-interest-rate environment in the U.S., and low housing supply together drove prices up, leaving some prospective first-time home buyers out of the market. Successful buyers were generally looking for more space.”

The need for more space also may be growing as Americans embrace multigenerational living. About 16% of buyers have opted for a multigenerational home since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 11% the previous year, according to 2020 data from the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR’s data shows the most common reason for a multigenerational home this year was to care for and spend more time with older parents, followed by cost savings and the ability to pool several incomes.

However, as homes get larger, lots sizes are shrinking. An analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau by StorageCafe shows that the median home size is now about 2,260 square feet—up from 2,170 square feet in 2010. The median lot size, however, on a new home has decreased nearly 18% (10,500 square feet in 2010 to 8,700 square feet in 2020).

Home buyers are finding more housing selections this fall, but they’re still up against some serious competition. Nearly one-third of the 50 largest metros saw increases in the number of newly listed homes compared to last year, according to a new report from realtor.com®.

“This September, buyers had more options than they’ve had all year and while that’s typical of early fall, that’s not what happened in 2020,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “Still, it’s important to remember that while buyers may have an easier time this fall than they did in the spring, the market remains more competitive than it has been historically at this time of year.”

There are still fewer homes for sale than a year ago, and less than half as many two years ago before the pandemic, Hale says. Homes are also still selling faster than in 2020 too.

The U.S. median home price continued to hold at August’s near record-high of $380,000. List prices are up 20.6% compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, realtor.com® notes. The top five markets with the highest price growth rate are in Austin, Texas (+33.6%); Las Vegas (+24.6%); Tampa, Fla. (+20.8%); Orlando (+16.9%); and Riverside, Calif. (+15.4%).

Some areas of the country are seeing more new listings added to the market than others. New listings have grown the most in competitive markets like Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Washington, D.C.—all with inventories up more than 10% year-over-year.

Meanwhile, the areas with some of the largest drops in newly listed homes in September tend to be in places that were affected by Hurricane Ida, including the Northeast (down 5.4%) and South (down 3.2%). New listings declined the most in the hard-hit area of like New Orleans, down 51.2%, according to realtor.com®.

Home prices surging has been squeezing housing affordability. Seventy-five percent of the U.S. counties recently analyzed had less affordable median-priced single-family homes in the third quarter compared to their historical averages, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm.

Home prices are rising faster than wages in most of the country. Record low mortgage rates have helped home buyers offset some of these higher prices.

Major ownership costs on the typical home accounted for nearly 25% of the average national wage of $64,857 in the third quarter, according to the study. ATTOM’s report factors housing affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed to meet monthly homeownership expenses, including mortgage, property taxes, and insurance on a median-priced home. It assumes a 20% down payment and a 28% maximum debt-to-income ratio.

Still, while housing affordability has been stretched, major homeownership expenses on a typical home are still affordable to average local wage earners in 53% of the counties analyzed, according to the report.

On the other hand, the following markets are where the highest annual wages are needed to afford a median-priced home.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will continue to offer forbearance indefinitely to qualifying multifamily property owners as part of their ongoing COVID-19 protection.

This marks the fourth extension the FHFA has made to the programs. The latest were set to expire Sept. 30.

“Given the uncertain nature of this pandemic, the FHFA is taking further action to protect renters, property owners, and the mortgage market,” says Sandra L. Thompson, acting director of the FHFA.

Property owners with Fannie Mae– or Freddie Mac–backed multifamily mortgages can enter a new or modified forbearance if they experience a financial hardship due to the pandemic’s impact on their business operations. Property owners must inform tenants in writing about tenant protections available during the forbearance and repayment periods. They also must agree not to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent while the property is in forbearance.

Additional tenant protections are in place when the repayment period starts.

For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov/housing on relief options.

Certain words and phrases you use may undermine your authority and professionalism. Lifehacker.com recently spotlighted some of these common “apprehensive phrases” that make you sound less confident. Here are a few words that made their list:

“Just”

“When we introduce our questions and ideas with this four-letter word—‘I’m just following up,’ ‘Just wanted to add…’—the undertone is one of apology,” writes Sarah Showfety for Lifehacker.com. “It’s a subtle preemptive excuse for potentially disturbing someone. It minimizes our power, and sounds as if we’re asking for permission to speak—something confident speakers rarely do.”

“Sorry (to bother you…)”

There’s no need to apologize: “Sorry if this has been said before…” “Sorry for venting…” or even to co-workers: “Sorry, can you tell me how much this is?” Those who apologize needlessly appear more timid, according to Canadian sociologist Maja Jovanovic. Replace the “sorry”s with “I’d like to add…” or “why don’t we try this” or “thank you.”

“Does that make sense?” or “Do you know what I’m saying?”

“If we think we’re rambling, or don’t have the words to clearly convey our point, there are a few solid alternatives to looking for external validation that we’re not being too confusing,” Showfety writes. Instead, try “Let me rephrase that” or “There’s a lot I’d like to say about this” or “This is a new idea for me.”

Let more light into your home and you can lower your anxiety and stress levels and even improve your sleep. Increasing daylight in a home can affect a person’s circadian rhythm, sleep, vitality, and mental health, according to a newly published, peer-reviewed paper in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

“The study demonstrates the impact of daylight on the physiological, behavioral, and subjective measures of circadian health in a real-world environment,” says Mariana G. Figueiro, senior author of the paper. “The findings highlight the importance of ensuring people are exposed to circadian-effective electric light or daylight indoors as well as outside for human health and well-being.”

Light-to-dark cycles are important for circadian rhythms, the internal process that controls sleep. As more people spent time at home during the pandemic, the importance of balancing this may have become even more important, researchers note.

The study, conducted by the Light and Health Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, shows “smart windows,” electrochromic glass windows that tint dynamically based on the location of the sun, may help filter the light better than blinds and window shades, offering a boosted psychological benefit.

In the study, researchers tracked participants first in homes with smart windows and then in homes with standard windows and blinds. The study’s participants wore sleep-tracking devices and completed surveys on their health and well-being.

After one week, melatonin production in the body was delayed by 15 minutes when participants used traditional blinds, researchers found. That caused them to fall asleep 22 minutes later and sleep 16 minutes less each night.

On the other hand, when in homes with smart windows, participants showed an 11% reduction in anxiety levels and a 9% decrease in stress levels compared with the week when they used the traditional windows.

“When it comes to choosing a place to live, access to daylight and quality views are key features for prospective tenants,” Piers MacNaughton, vice president of health strategy at View Inc. “This study shows that daylight and views are not just desirable amenities but also have fundamental impacts on our health and even our hormones.”