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April 2024 » thefivestar.com 67 April 2024 J O U R N A L for sale will contribute to an increase in new home building. » Multifamily Housing Starts: While permits decreased more gradually to a SAAR of 468,000, multifamily housing starts plummeted precipitously to a SAAR of 327,000 in January. Due to the reduced national rent increase and the approaching completion of additional multifamily units, Fannie Mae has decreased its near-term prediction to reflect the new data. Multifamily starts are still expected to decline in 2024. » Single-Family Home Prices: Accord- ing to the most current nonseasonally adjusted Fannie Mae HPI, home prices increased by 7.1% in Q4/Q4 of 2023. On a Q4/Q4 basis, prices are expected to increase by 3.2% in 2024. » Single-Family Mortgage Origina- tions: Due to downgrades in the home sales projection (which are a result of a higher mortgage rate outlook) and incoming data showing a persistently larger cash share of purchase trans- actions, Fannie Mae has reduced its outlook for purchase originations. The GSE anticipates that purchase origi- nation volume will reach $1.4 trillion in 2024—up 12% from 2023 but down $90 billion from the previous estimate. Fannie Mae projects purchasing volume to increase by an addition- al 14% to $1.6 trillion in 2025. They lowered their previous estimate by $62 billion to $397 billion for refinance originations in 2024. Since mortgage rates are predicted to gradually decline throughout 2025 and more borrowers would have an incentive to refinance due to lower interest rates, Fannie Mae projects refinancing originations to total $626 billion in 2025, which is a downgrade from the previous forecast but represents growth from 2023. Fannie Mae's overall home sales fore- cast was revised downward to 4.91 million in 2024 (originally 5.00 million) and 5.40 million in 2025 (formerly 5.54 million)— primarily due to changes in mortgage rate expectations. They adjusted their predictions for the total originations of single-family mortgages to $1.76 trillion in 2024 (from $1.92 trillion) and $2.18 trillion in 2025 (from $2.36 trillion). Ad- ditionally, Fannie Mae slightly revised its projection for mortgage originations as recent data led them to revise expecta- tions higher for the cash portion of home purchases. Whether the Fed starts lowering interest rates in June or later in the year will not affect the macroeconomy or mortgage rates, according to Fannie Mae. However, Fannie Mae thinks mortgage rates will likely be more significantly impacted by the market's expectations of the total change in the fed funds rate over the next two to three years. HUD COUNSELING INITIATIVE SEEKS TO BRIDGE THE HOMEOWNERSHIP GAP T he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Housing Counseling has announced that $10 million in grant funding is available to eligible HUD-ap- proved housing counseling agencies. These agencies will use the funding to prepare and equip prospective homebuy- ers to successfully navigate the home- buying process. "HUD is committed to expanding access to homeownership, especially for those who have been shut out of homebuying opportunities for far too long," former HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said. "Housing counselors across America offer invaluable information and guidance. I am pleased that even more people will be able to access their services, purchase homes, and begin building wealth, thanks to today's an- nouncement." This new funding will enable HUD-approved housing counseling agencies to provide culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate services for pre- and post-purchase housing counseling, aiming to increase home- ownership rates among historically underserved communities. The funding affirms the ongoing commitment of the Biden administration to help close the racial wealth gap and address homebuy- ing barriers that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. HUD-certified housing counselors offer independent, expert advice custom- ized to individual housing needs, helping prospective buyers understand and address housing barriers to help achieve housing goals. HUD-participating housing counseling agencies also offer classroom-style workshops and online education. Types of housing counseling ser- vices offered by HUD include: » Financial management, budget and credit counseling, and workshops » Fair housing education workshops » Home improvement and rehabilitation counseling » Mortgage delinquency and default resolution counseling and workshops (foreclosure) » Non-delinquency post-purchase workshops » Pre-purchase counseling and home- buyer education workshops » Predatory lending education work- shops » Rental counseling and workshops (eviction, landlord-tenant disputes, Section 8) » Reverse mortgage counseling (HECM) » Homeless counseling » Disaster preparation and mitigation counseling and workshops "HUD-approved housing counseling agencies and HUD-certified housing counselors serve as trusted advisors to the next generation of homeowners, who will be the most diverse in our nation's history," Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon said. "Access to high quality, culturally and linguistically appropri- ate housing counseling can help more households attain the many benefits of homeownership, including the ability to build intergenerational wealth." Expanding Access to Homeowner- ship "Modeled on successful public and private sector partnership initiatives,