Mortgage rates held steady this week as the world awaits more information about the severity of the omicron variant of COVID-19 and ongoing supply chain issues.

“Mortgage rates continue to remain stable notwithstanding volatility in the financial markets,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The consistency of rates in the face of changes in the economy is primarily due to the evolution of the pandemic, which lingers and continues to pose uncertainty. This low mortgage rate environment offers favorable conditions for refinancing.”

In some of the nation’s hottest housing markets, housing prices climbed by more than 30% this year. While prices are continuing to rise across the country, there are signs that steep price jumps are moderating.

Also, the number of homes with price cuts has more than doubled compared to a low set in February. And homes also are taking slightly longer to sell, increasing from a low in June of 37 days to 45 days in October, realtor.com® reports.

Economists are predicting more homes to enter the market, which could help alleviate the pressure on home prices.

“Compared to other past winter seasons, this winter season’s sales activity will be stronger,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of REALTORS®. “This winter, there will be more sales compared to pre-pandemic winters going back all the way to 2006.”

The momentum from the last few months is expected to continue. From March through October, homes have been selling faster than they traditionally do.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was back above 3% this week, and economists believe rates will continue to increase over the next few months.

“The combination of rising inflation and consumer spending is driving mortgage rates higher,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Shoppers looking to buy a home are fueling a strong demand while ongoing inventory shortages are not improving in the presence of higher home prices. This reality illustrates the challenging situation facing the housing market.”

Home buyers and homeowners got another chance this week to lock in historically low rates. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.98%, Freddie Mac reports.

America’s least desired colors for home decoration: orange and pink. Purple and yellow also were low on the popularity list of consumers using them in home design.

This is the result of a survey of more than 1,500 consumers by Modsy, an online interior design service. More than a third of survey respondents ranked these two colors as their least favorite, Apartment Therapy reports on the findings.

A majority of house hunters say it’s not prices that are keeping them out of the housing market—it’s other buyers. Forty-five percent of prospective buyers recently surveyed say they keep getting outbid by other offers, according to a new survey from the National Association of Home Builders. The NAHB says this is only the third time in the survey’s history that the top reason prospective buyers have been unsuccessful has not been due to finding a home at an affordable price.

Offering slight relief to home buyers this week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a 3.09% average. But rates may rise again soon.

Housing analysts largely expect mortgage rates to increase in the following months due to the Federal Reserve’s announcement this week that it will slowly reduce its monthly bond purchases.

“While mortgage rates fell after several weeks on the rise, we expect future upticks due to strong economic data and as the Federal Reserve pulls back on its stimulus,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

First of all, there’s housing affordability, or rather, lack thereof.

Rents continue to rise nationwide, growing 7.5% year-over-year in June 2021, according to CoreLogic. The Financial Times highlights that home prices in the 20 biggest U.S. cities are growing at twice that rate, at 15% year-over-year.