Credit: American Public Media’s Marketplace with Amy Scott & Kai Ryssdal
For those in the market for a second home, costs are going up even more, thanks to higher fees coming in a few months.
Demand for second homes has gone through the roof in the last couple of years, as newly remote workers seek more space and better scenery.
Soon, they’ll have to pay a little more for those homes. This week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced it’s increasing the upfront fees for second-home loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by as much as about 3.9% starting in April.
Demand for second homes is likely to remain high, according to Dean Tucker, a mortgage broker in Boise, Idaho. “I don’t think that it’s going to slow that market down. Second homebuyers are typically more affluent,” he said. “And if that’s the cost of getting a second home, that’s the cost.”
Buyers can always borrow in the private market. And a lot of them don’t even need a mortgage — they pay cash.