Good Morning! Today is Thursday, March 31. The US is planning to lift an order that has restricted immigration for the past two years. Officials say Vladimir Putin’s subordinates have misled him about the Russian military’s struggles to avoid angering him. Google’s sister company Waymo is sending fully autonomous vehicles onto the streets of San Francisco. The Mortgage Note Reports Will The Housing Market Boom Or Bust? As the spring selling season begins, people in the mortgage and real estate industries are speculating on whether 2022 will be a year of growth or the start of the end for a red-hot market. Editor Kimberley Haas takes a deep dive into this topic. Flip Profits: Home flipping profits fell across the…
Mortgage loan application volume fell by 6.8% last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly survey shows. The adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, dropped by 6.8%. The adjusted purchase index rose by 1%, while the unadjusted purchase index rose 1% and was 10% lower YOY. The refinance index fell 15% and was down 60% YOY. Refinances made up just 40.6% of total applications, down from 44.8%. Mortgage rates hit a three-year high at 4.80%, putting further pressure on dwindling refinances. “Not surprisingly, refinance application volume declined further, as fewer borrowers have an incentive to apply at rates that are significantly higher than a year ago,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA Senior Vice President and Chief…
Good Morning! Today is Wednesday, March 30. US job openings totaled 11.3 million in February, barely budging from January. The F.D.A. authorized a second booster shot for anyone 50 or older. Russian missile strikes destroyed a government building in Mykolaiv, a port city in the south of Ukraine. The Mortgage Note Reports Home Prices In Perspective: Homes are less affordable than they were a year ago, but they largely remain more affordable than at the peak of the 2006 housing boom. Corcoran CIO: Jason Crawford has been appointed Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of Corcoran Global Living, the company announced. And in other mortgage and housing news… Home Price Appreciation: The S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Index shows home price appreciation up 19.2% in…
Good Morning! Today is Tuesday, March 29. Biden said he was expressing “moral outrage”, not policy, when he said Putin “cannot remain in power.” A federal judge concluded that Donald Trump most likely committed felonies by trying to overturn the 2020 election. Will Smith apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him at the Oscars. The Mortgage Note Reports Russia’s Attack On Ukraine Felt By Builders In America: Some experts say there will be ramifications in the home and commercial markets, Chuck Green reports. Budget Response: The Biden administration’s budget proposal includes big money for housing, which the CHLA says reaffirms the need to scrap its Life of Loan policy. Condo Explosion: Condo prices have hit a record high – up…
Condo prices hit a record high– $319,000, up 14.6% YOY and 22.7% from before the pandemic— as buyers priced out of the single-family market turn towards more affordable options, Redfin reported. This is a turn-around from the beginning of the pandemic when American buyers wanted to avoid crowded areas, causing condo sales to drop by 48%. But as pandemic fears subside and home shoppers face stock shortages and price appreciation in the single-family market, condos are making a comeback. Gen Z in particular is reviving urban hotspots assumed to be dying out due to Covid-19. “Big cities are appealing for a host of reasons—big cities offer diverse job opportunities. Big cities offer many amenities that are not available in smaller…
Good Morning! Today is Monday, March 28. The White House will propose a 20% minimum tax on households worth more than $100 million. Russian and Ukrainian delegations will hold another round of peace talks in Turkey. Troy Kotsur became the first deaf man to win an acting Oscar for his role in “CODA,” which also won Best Picture. The Mortgage Note Reports Debt And Inflation Impacting The Housing Market: The pandemic has driven many people deeper into credit card debt. That, along with rising interest rates and inadequate housing stock, is reducing the number of new mortgages, Gregory Bresiger reports. Consumer Sentiment: Consumer sentiment fell again in March, hitting its lowest level since August 2011 thanks to rising rates, war, and inflation.…
March brought another dip in consumer sentiment, with the University of Michigan’s index registering its lowest level since August 2011. The March index was revised down to 59.4 from a reading of 59.7 two weeks ago. An index of 100 is equal to sentiment in Q1 1966. A year ago at this time, the index was 84.9. Consumer sentiment is now down 41.6 points from its peak in February 2020 and is even below the lows seen in four of the last six recessions. “When asked to explain changes in their finances in their own words, more consumers mentioned reduced living standards due to rising inflation than any other time except during the two worst recessions in the past fifty…
Pending home sales dropped for the fourth month in a row in February, down 4.1% from January and 5.4% YOY, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), which measures home sales using contract signings, fell in three of the major regions. The Northeast was the only region that saw an increase from January. All four regions saw year-over-year declines. “Pending transactions diminished in February mainly due to the low number of homes for sale. Buyer demand is still intense, but it’s as simple as ‘one cannot buy what is not for sale,'” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. The Northeast PHSI rose 1.9% to 85.0 in February, down 9.2% YOY. In the Midwest, the…
Mortgage rates continued their upward march this week, averaging 4.42%, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) found that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.42%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.17%. “This week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased by more than a quarter of a percent as mortgage rates across all loan types continued to move up,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “Rising inflation, escalating geopolitical uncertainty, and the Federal Reserve’s actions are driving rates higher and weakening consumers’ purchasing power. In short, the rise in mortgage rates, combined with continued house price appreciation, is increasing monthly mortgage payments and quickly affecting homebuyers’ ability to keep up with the…
New home sales dropped by 2% in February, declining for a second consecutive month, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Purchase of new single-family homes fell to a 772,000 annualized rate, down from a revised rate of 788,000 in January and 6.2% lower than the expected rate of 823,000. These declines suggest American house hunters are taking a step back as interest rates and inflation rise. The South and West, two regions that have been quite popular with homebuyers in the last year, saw sales decline, while the less popular Northeast and Midwest saw an increase in sales. At month’s end, an estimated 407,000 new homes remained on the market,…
