Mortgage Industry News and Insights
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Rosy Outlook For Housing
Fannie Mae has revised its housing and economic forecasts higher almost every month since mid-summer. Its report this week was even more upbeat. The company’s economists boosted their 2021 GDP prediction 1.2 percentage points to 4.5% saying, “We continue to believe that the conditions for a continued, strong recovery are present once the limiting factors…
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Employment & Home Prices
The Employment Situation Report for November was unsettling at best. The economy, as reflected in job creation (or perhaps re-creation is a better word) from the massive layoffs in the spring, had been slowing recently. But it pretty much stalled last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were only 245,000 jobs added during…
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Acting on Optimism
Home building seems to have regained some of its footing after a disastrous setback in April. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said optimism has improved substantially among its new home builder members. The Housing Market Index that measures their confidence in the market has regained 28 of the 42 points it dropped in…
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It’s Officially Called a Recession Now
While the May Jobs Situation report appeared to reveal a huge improvement over April’s 20,000 job loss, it also came with more asterisks than a “Free Offer” on TV. The official report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said there were 2.5 million jobs added in May, a record-setting increase, and a surprise to…
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A New Indicator Arrives
You will see a new Key Indicator in this week’s Economic Update while another that has been tracked for years has disappeared. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is increasingly being used as an index to reset the interest rate for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) and…
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Why Not Better?
One economist can’t understand why housing sales aren’t doing better. Two others say things will change for the better any minute now. This week there was support for both views as home prices continued to slow and both pending home sales and interest rates fell again. David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the…
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Growing Inventories
One might expect that the new era of low interest rates, the record low unemployment numbers, and spring flowers popping up everywhere would prompt a flood of home buyers into the market. One would be wrong. Both new and existing home sales were down in April. The decline in new home sales, down almost 7%…
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Construction Steps Up
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said its Housing Market Index has finally climbed out of the low 60’s range where it has hovered for months. The uptick in the index measures the confidence of builders in the new home market, hopefully indicating they are emboldened to start building again. And right on cue,…
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Cool Down
The hot California real estate market appears to be cooling down. Whether this is good news, bad news or merely yawn-inducing, probably depends whether you are in that market as a buyer, a seller, or not at all. Still, given the state’s role as a national trendsetter, it probably behooves everyone to pay attention. CoreLogic…
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Releasing Some Pressure
The Employment Situation report for October could be termed “outstanding”; 250,000 new jobs compared to a downwardly revised 118,000 in September. This was more than the most optimistic prediction by Econoday analysts who had expected a report somewhere in the 150,000 to 231,000 range. Their consensus was 190,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate, which had…