Good Morning! Today is Monday, May 9. Today is Victory Day, a holiday in Russia that has become a celebration of military might. Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine and met with the nation’s First Lady. A shortage of baby formula in the U.S. is causing some retailers to limit how much customers can buy.
The Mortgage Note Reports
Sentiment Down: Consumers across the country continue to report difficult homebuying conditions, Editor Kimberley Haas writes.
OriginPoint Hire: John Stewart is joining OriginPoint as its new EVP of National Sales.
Refi Closing Costs: The national average closing costs for a refinance in 2021 were up $88 from 2020 but were still less than 1% of the average refinance loan amount.
And in other mortgage and housing news…
NAR Courtroom Win: NAR and four brokerages dodged antitrust litigation when a federal judge in Chicago ruled that the allegations duplicated a parallel case led by home sellers with stronger legal claims.
U.S. Jobs: Employers added 428,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.6%, the Labor Department said.
Mortgage Jobs: …but jobs at non-depositories active in housing finance in March declined for two months in a row for the first time since 2019.
A Robust Market: The April jobs report was “modestly above” Fannie’s expectations, and shows the robust labor market is going strong as job openings hit a new record.
“Continued Pressure”: Experts say it’s unlikely home prices will drop in any significant way nationwide anytime soon.
Take A Look: Here are home prices in America’s 5 most expensive zip codes.