Housing inventory decreased last week, while purchase application data grew 25% year-over-year! What is happening in the housing market? In the two weeks leading up to the July 4th holiday week, our weekly Housing Market Tracker showed that housing data was stabilizing as mortgage rates approached their lowest levels of the year. However, with July […]
Housing inventory actually fell last week. What is going on? Read More »
Despite speculation following the Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting that a rate cut could come as early as this month, most economists still expect the central bank to hold off until September or later. Only one respondent in Wolters Kluwer’s Blue Chip Economic Indicators survey, conducted July 7 and 8, after the stronger-than-expected June
No Fed cut in July, nearly all economists surveyed say Read More »
“Marry the house, date the rate” is a phrase that was popularized during the post-pandemic era of rising mortgage rates. Lenders urged borrowers to focus on finding a house they were head over heels with and worry about their interest rate down the line. Borrowers who were accustomed to rates hovering near 3% didn’t realize
‘Dating the rate’ misled borrowers. Now they’re financially strained Read More »
The stronger-than-expected employment report is the catalyst for ending a five-week streak of declining mortgage rates, Freddie Mac reported. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.72% as of July 10, a gain of 5 basis points compared with the prior week when it averaged 6.67%, the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey reported. But it
Mortgage rates turn upward on strong jobs data Read More »
The surge in adjustable-rate mortgages this decade led their share of the market to more than triple over four years at the nation’s largest banks, according to a new Federal Reserve report. Conventional ARM originations at the financial institutions overseen by the Fed accounted for 25.1% of their mortgage originations in the first quarter this
ARMs tripled at banks over past decade Read More »
Treasury yields rose Monday led by long-maturity tenors as investors preoccupied with the potential fallout of US tariffs looked ahead to auctions later this week. Yields for 10- to 30-year Treasuries climbed at least five basis points to the highest levels in more than a week, extending the selloff sparked by strong June employment data
Treasury yields climb ahead of auctions amid tariff uncertainty Read More »
One of the most surprising pieces of housing economic data for 2025 is that purchase apps for the existing home sales market have shown 22 weeks of year-over-year growth. And that includes nine consecutive weeks of double-digit year-over-year growth in recent weeks. Normally, this would be a significant news story, but the confusion surrounding this
Why mortgage purchase apps are on a 22-week growth streak Read More »
Fresh US jobs figures took pressure off the Federal Reserve to consider an interest-rate cut later this month, likely leaving the central bank on hold at least until the fall. While employers added more jobs in June than forecast and the unemployment rate ticked lower, growth in private payrolls weakened. US job growth exceeded expectations in June as an
US jobs data eases pressure on Fed Read More »
For the first time since mid-April mortgage rates fell below 6.7%, but the data doesn’t take into account the diminished likelihood the Federal Open Market Committee will reduce short-term rates at this month’s meeting. It is a result of this morning’s jobs report coming in hotter than expected, with observers now postulating the Fed is
Mortgage rates drop again but chance of Fed cut also falls Read More »
Mortgage bankers and brokers have been engaging in cautious hiring and they might want to remain careful about it given the complications the latest job numbers add to the rate outlook. At 266,700, nondepositories in the industry added an estimated 1,300 positions during the May homebuying season when compared to revised April numbers as total
Mortgage jobs, others inch up, as rate cut tensions grow Read More »