The housing market doesn’t appear to be following its typical seasonal slowdown this winter. Home buyers appeared in a rush last week, with economists crediting rising mortgage rates.

Mortgage rates moved to their highest level in more than a year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports. Buyers who are already facing higher home prices are watching mortgage rates closely as they affect what shoppers can afford.

Mortgage purchase loan applications increased 2% last week compared to the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Purchase applications, however, are 17% lower than the same week a year ago, but real estate pros say that is primarily due to low inventories of homes for sale. They reported to CNBC anecdotally higher-than-normal activity in early January from home shoppers.

The MBA reports that the average contract interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for conforming loan balances rose to 3.52%, up from 3.33% the previous week. That marks the highest contract rate since March 2020.

“Mortgage rates increased significantly across all loan types last week as the Federal Reserve’s signaling of tighter policy ahead pushed U.S. Treasury yields higher,” says Joel Kan, an MBA economist. “The housing market started 2022 on a strong note. Both conventional and government purchase applications showed increases, with FHA purchase applications increasing almost 9%, and VA applications increasing more than 5%.”

House hunters are watching mortgage rates closely. After all, every increase could have an impact on affordability, particularly given escalating home prices.

Nearly half—47%—of home buyers recently surveyed say they would feel more pressure to buy a home if mortgage rates passed 3.5%, according to a new consumer survey conducted by Redfin.

Mortgage rates are largely forecast to continue to rise over the coming months. Last week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to its highest average since May 2020, averaging 3.22%, Freddie Mac reports. The National Association of REALTORS® forecasts that mortgage rates will average 3.7% by the end of this year.

Buyers who were surveyed say that increases in mortgage rates would also have an impact on the type of home they decide to purchase. Twenty-nine percent of buyers say that if mortgage rates increase above 3.5%, they will change their target areas to buy a home and seek a smaller one.

Only 7% of the 1,500 home buyers surveyed say they wouldn’t change their plans at all if mortgage rates rise above 3.5%, the Redfin survey shows. Only 2% would cancel their plans to purchase a home altogether if rates increase past that amount.

“Mortgage rates increasing will make homebuying less affordable,” says Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist. “Over time, that will put the brakes on demand and put an end to double-digit annual price growth. But in the short term, this increase will light a fire under home buyers and make for an extremely competitive January.”

What makes for a great market for first-time buyers? Areas that have strong job markets, short commute times, affordability, high inventories of homes for sale, and a population that skews younger, according to realtor.com®’s newly released Best Markets for First-Time Homebuyers Report.

“Buying a first home is always a challenging undertaking, and it’s been an especially tough couple years for first-time buyers, many of whom are struggling to find a home that’s within their budget to win in a competitive bidding situation,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “With this in mind and the fact that remote work has given people more flexibility in where they live, we wanted to identify markets where first-timers have a chance to become homeowners and find a great quality of life.”

Realtor.com® found a lot of commonalities in markets that tend to be havens for first-time home buyers. For example, the top markets generally offer nearly twice the number of homes for sale than the national average. Also, they have a younger population than the country overall:—an average of 15.2% of residents who are between the ages of 25 to 34 years old, compared to 13.5% for the nation. They also tend to offer more affordable homes with the home price-to-income ratio in the top markets lower than the national average.

All the cities on realtor.com®’s list are located within metro areas that are predicted to have strong home sales and price growth in the future too, making them likely smart investment buys as well.

The following are the 10 markets that topped realtor.com®’s list as best markets for first-time buyers in 2022:

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a new analysis that accuses the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—of routinely failing to fully respond to consumers who have found errors on their credit reports. The three credit bureaus reported fixing less than 2% of complaints in 2021—down from nearly 25% in 2019, according to the CFPB report.

“America’s credit reporting oligopoly has little incentive to treat consumers fairly when their credit reports have errors,” says CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, adding that the CFPB’s report is “further evidence of the serious harms stemming from their faulty financial surveillance business model.”

Credit reports play a critical role when lenders determine whether a person qualifies for a mortgage or for the best interest rates, and inaccuracies can drive up the costs of financing. Credit reporting also can inform decisions about employment, insurance, and utilities.

Consumers may submit complaints to the credit bureaus about inaccurate information on their credit and consumer reports. The CFPB’s analysis, however, found that the three companies failed to provide substantive responses, particularly when complaints were sent by third parties on the behalf of the consumer.

CFPB found that Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion relied heavily on template complaint responses instead of providing thorough responses to consumers. Equifax and TransUnion were the most likely to promise investigations of complaints but fail to provide any outcomes, the report notes.

Read CFPB’s full report.

Mortgage rates have taken a big leap at the start of the new year. In the first week of 2022, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped nearly 60 basis points higher than a year earlier, averaging 3.22% this week, Freddie Mac reports.

“Mortgage rates increased during the first week of 2022 to the highest level since May 2020 and are more than half a percent higher than January 2021,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “With higher inflation, promising economic growth, and a tight labor market, we expect rates will continue to rise. The impact of higher rates on purchase demand remains modest so far given the current first-time home buyer growth.”

The National Association of REALTORS® forecasts that mortgage rates will average 3.7% by the end of this year.

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Jan. 6:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.22%, with an average 0.7 point, increasing from last week’s 3.11% average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 2.65%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.43%, with an average 0.6 point, increasing from last week’s 2.33% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.16%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.41%, with an average 0.5 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.75%.

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

Most home buyers shop for homes online and judge properties by the photographs before deciding whether to visit the properties in person. Yet, many home sellers don’t make much effort to prepare for the photo shoot, according to a new study.

More than half of 310 professional real estate professional photographers recently surveyed say home sellers are unprepared for photos to be taken of their property when they arrive, according to a survey conducted by HomeJab, a photography and visual production service firm for real estate.

“Agents may be assuming their sellers know what they need to do to have their home ready for a photo shoot,” says Joe Jesuele, founder and CEO of HomeJab. “But photography occurs very early in the listing process, and sellers may not realize what professional photographers need to make the right impressions.”

What mistakes are homeowners making? They may forget to clean up and leave out personal items, such as cellphones, purses, and drinking glasses. “That can detract attention away from what is important,” says Jon Biddle, a professional real estate photographer in Philadelphia. “Agents could do more to make sure they’re ready.”