22
May
By First Rate Financial Group
Financial Reports

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – May 22, 2023

What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week - May 22, 2023Last week’s economic reporting included readings on U.S. housing markets, sales of previously-owned homes, housing starts, and building permits issued. Weekly readings on mortgage rates and jobless claims were also released.

NAHB: U.S. Home Builder Confidence Rises in May

The National Association of Home Builders reported a five-point gain in home builder confidence in current housing market conditions in May. The index reading for May rose to 50 in May as compared to April’s reading of 45. Analysts expected a reading of 45 for May. Readings above 50 indicate a majority of home builders are positive about current housing market conditions. Component readings of the home builder index also rose as the gauge for current market conditions rose by five points to 50; the reading for market conditions over the next six months rose by seven points and the index reading for buyer traffic increased by two points.

Builders surveyed indicated that homeowners aren’t motivated to sell as many of them bought or refinanced their homes during the pandemic when mortgage rates were very low. Aspiring homeowners are turning to new homes for more options as demand for homes continues to outpace the number of previously-owned homes available.

 Higher demand for homes caused developers to reduce incentives to homebuyers. Homebuilders offering price reductions on new homes fell from 30 percent in April to 27 percent in May.  NAHB said home price reductions averaged six percent of original home prices.

Mortgage Rates, Jobless Claims

Freddie Mac reported higher average mortgage rates last week. Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.39 percent and were four basis points higher than for the previous week. Rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.75 percent, which was unchanged from the prior week.

242,000 initial jobless claims were filed last week as compared to 255,000 expected claims and 264,000 first-time jobless claims filed in the prior week.

What’s Ahead

This week’s scheduled economic reporting includes readings on new and pending home sales, minutes from the recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting, and the final consumer sentiment reading for May. Weekly readings on mortgage rates and jobless claims will also be released.

 

01
May
By First Rate Financial Group
Financial Reports

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – May 1, 2023

What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week - May 1, 2023Last week’s economic reporting included readings on home prices, sales of new homes, and pending home sales. Monthly and year-over-year readings for inflation were published along with weekly reports on mortgage rates and jobless claims.

February S&P Case-Shiller Housing Market Indices show slower home price growth

National home prices continued to rise in February, but at a slower pace according to S&P Case-Shiller home price indices. Month-to-month home prices rose by  0.40 percent in February and matched analysts’ expectations, but were lower than January’s reading of  2.50 percent home price growth.

S&P Case-Shiller’s 20-city home price index, which is frequently used by real estate professionals for tracking housing markets, rose by 0.10 percent month-to-month in February.  This was the first time home prices rose in eight months.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, reported an increase of  0.50 percent in home prices for homes owned and sold by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Properties owned and sold by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are subject to loan limits and underwriting rules used by the two agencies.

In related news, the National Association of  Realtors® reported pending home sales fell by -5.20 percent in March compared to the expected reading of 0.50 percent growth and February’s reading of 0.80 percent in pending sales.

Mortgage Rates Mixed, Jobless Claims Fall

Freddie Mac reported mixed movement on mortgage rates as the average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by four basis points to 6.43 percent. Rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by five basis points and averaged 5.71 percent.

Initial jobless claims fell to 230,000 claims compared to the expected reading of 246,000 claims and the previous week’s reading of 245,000 claims. Continuing jobless claims fell to 1.86 million filings from the prior week’s reading of 1.87 million ongoing claims.

The University of Michigan reported no change in consumer responses to its consumer sentiment survey for April. The index reading of 63.5 for March was unchanged in April and also matched analysts’ forecasts.

What’s Ahead

This week’s scheduled economic reporting includes readings on construction spending, the Federal Open Market Committee’s scheduled statement, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference. Readings on public and private-sector employment and national unemployment are also scheduled for release.

24
Apr
By First Rate Financial Group
Financial Reports

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – April 24, 2023

What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week - April 24, 2023Last week’s economic reporting included readings on home builder confidence and weekly reports on mortgage rates and jobless claims.

NAHB: Home builder confidence increases in April

The National Association of Home Builders reported that builder confidence in current housing market conditions rose by one point to an index reading of 45 in April. April’s reading was the fourth consecutive month showing increasing builder confidence.  The March and April index readings of 44 and 45 were the strongest since September 2022. A year ago the homebuilder confidence reading was 77.

Component readings for homebuilder confidence in market conditions were mixed. Builder confidence in current housing market conditions rose two points; builder confidence in expected sales over the next six months rose three points and builder confidence in prospective buyer traffic in new housing developments was unchanged from March.

The outlook for previously-owned homes was less clear. Robert Dietz, the chief economist for the NAHB, said: “Homebuilders are confident about future sales as buyers compete for the low inventory of available pre-owned homes.” Mr. Dietz also said that the shortage of previously-owned homes for sale was caused in part by homeowners not wanting to give up their current low mortgage rates.

Homebuilders are offering buyer incentives; 30 percent of homebuilders lowered prices on new homes by an average discount of six percent. Mr. Dietz said, “ Currently one-third of the housing inventory is new construction as compared to the historical norm of a little more than ten percent.” Mr. Dietz said that there is no evidence that pressure on the regional bank system has made the lending environment worse for builders and land developers.

Mortgage rates and jobless claims rise

Freddie Mac reported higher average mortgage rates last week. The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by 12 basis points to 6.39 percent. Rates for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by 22 basis points to 5.76 percent.

245,000 initial jobless claims were filed last week as compared to the expected reading of 244,000 first-time claims filed and the prior week’s reading of 240,000 first-time claims filed. 1.87 million continuing jobless claims were filed as compared to the previous week’s reading of 1.80 million ongoing claims filed.

What’s Ahead

This week’s scheduled economic reports include readings on housing markets and home prices. Data on new home sales and pending home sales will be published along with weekly readings on mortgage rates and jobless claims.