‘Tis the season to do shopping — and get bombarded with offers to open credit cards. The deals are tempting, too. “Open a charge card today” and save up to 20% on your purchase. Considering that the average Black Friday ticket was $343, that’s $68 saved per store. For big-ticket items like televisions, the savings [...]
When a home seller accepts a contract on an MLS-listed property, the property’s status changes from “Active” to “Pending”. This means the home is scheduled to sell, but not yet sold. Each month, the National Association of Realtors® tallies the number of pending homes and publishes the data as the Pending Homes Sales Index report. [...]
The supply of newly-built homes fell to its lowest levels since 2006, offering additional proof of a housing market in recovery. Home supply is defined as the amount of time it would take to sell the current inventory of homes at the current pace of sales. In October, for the 8th consecutive month, home supplies [...]
Mortgage markets improved last week on stronger-than-expected economic data and safe haven buying. The holiday-shortened trading week amplified what should have been modest gains into large ones. Conforming mortgage rates dropped by about a quarter-percent last week, dropping them near their best levels of the year — and of all-time. Oddly, mortgage rates are falling [...]
Home affordability improved this week after the Federal Reserve released its November 3-4, 2009 meeting minutes. The FOMC Minutes is a companion to the Federal Reserve’s post-meeting press release. It’s released 3 weeks after the Fed adjourns and details the internal debates that shape our nation’s monetary policy. As compared to the press release, the [...]
It’s official — home prices are no longer in free fall. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Home Price Index posted its first quarterly increase since 2007 last quarter. The news was reported Tuesday. The Home Price Index is an interesting metric. It’s huge in its scope, accounting for every home sold in [...]
Another month, another piece of evidence that the housing market is in recovery. Existing Home Sales surged in October as the nation’s homebuyers took advantage of low mortgage rates, low list prices, and, for some, a generous tax credit. Home resales are 23 percent higher versus a year ago and home supply is down to [...]
Mortgage markets worsened last week on a mixed bag of economic data. Inflation data came in soft, but so did the start of the holiday shopping season. For the first time in a month, mortgage rates worsened last week, adding roughly 0.125 percent on conforming fixed-rate products, and a little bit more on ARMs. Despite [...]
For today’s home buyers and homeowners that can manage the higher monthly payments, 15-year fixed rate mortgage rates look attractive as compared to comparable 30-year products. The 15-year/30-year interest rate spread is near its 5-year high. Despite lower rates, however, homeowners opting for a 15-year fixed mortgage should be prepared for its higher monthly payments. [...]
A “Housing Start” is a home on which construction has started and, for the 4th straight month, national single-family housing starts held steady last month. When the demand for homes grows faster than the number of homes for sale, prices increase. As recent home sales data confirms, buyers currently outpace sellers and one consequence of [...]
