Pantheon Macroeconomics

Loan Volume Up As Rates Rise To 6.25%

Posted on by TMN Editor
Mortgage loan application volume increased by 3.8% last week, breaking a multi-week pattern of steep declines, despite rates rising to their highest point since October 2008. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey shows that the adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, rose by 3.8%. The results include an adjustment for Labor Day. The adjusted purchase index rose 1%, while the unadjusted purchase index increased 11% and was 30% lower YOY. The refinance index rosed by 10% and was 83% lower than the same time last year. Refis made up 32.5% of total applications. “Treasury yields continued to climb higher last week in anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, where it is expected that they…

Housing Starts Plummeted In July

Posted on by TMN Editor
Homebuilding plummeted in July as both homebuyers and sellers continue to lose confidence in the market. Housing starts fell by a shocking 9.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.446 million units last month, according to new data released by the Commerce Department.  This is their lowest rate since February 2021 and significantly below market expectations of 1.53 million. Last month’s revised data put starts at a rate of 1.599 million units. A drop this big suggests the housing market still has room to contract in the third quarter of this year. Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics called the data “terrible” in a tweet Tuesday. Single-family starts fell 10.1%, their lowest in two years, while starts for units in…