Mortgage Rates Down on Weak Inflation Data and Fed Speculation
The prime 30-year fixed mortgage rate quoted on Zillow fell last Friday by about 5 basis points to 3.66 percent, erasing much of the increase in rates reported the previous week and took rates to their lowest levels of the month.
Mortgage Rates Rise on Jobs Data, Fall on Fiscal Uncertainty
Friday’s September Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was primarily responsible for a sharp spike in rates last week.
Why Blacks and Hispanics Rely On Their Homes for Their Wealth
White households are more than twice as wealthy as black and Hispanic households, and their more diversified portfolios mean that a smaller portion of whites’ wealth is tied up in their homes.
Under Proposed Tax Changes, Taking MID Would Be Worthwhile on Only 5% of U.S. Homes
Currently, a little less than a third (29 percent) of all U.S. homes are valuable enough to make taking the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) worthwhile for tax filers. Under recently proposed tax changes, that number would fall to just 5 percent.
August New Home Sales: Dropping Sales and Prices
New home sales are now at their lowest level since December 2016. They fell in August for the second month in a row, declining 3.4 percent from July to 560,000 units (SAAR), according to the Census Bureau.
August Existing Home Sales: Summer Blues
It was the third consecutive month of declining existing home sales and the third month in a row of existing home sales coming in below forecasts.
August 2017 Home Sales Forecast: Better Than July – But That’s Not Saying Much
Despite the expected bump in August, overall home sales activity appears to be stuck on a plateau as tight inventory weighs on existing home sales and new home sales have struggled to meaningfully take off.
Housing Before and After the Crash: Taking Inventory of Our Housing Market Fears
Economists are fond of saying that economic expansions “don’t die of old age.” But the current expansion’s longevity – it is now the third-longest economic expansion in American history[1] – naturally prompts questions, and fears, about its eventual end.
July Existing Home Sales: Stagflation
It was the first time since late 2015 that sales have declined for two months in a row. There have been only five months in the past 35 years (the data series starts in June 1982) when there were fewer single-family homes on the market.
Rapid Reaction: July Existing Home Sales
July existing home sales fell 1.3 percent from June to 5.44M units, the lowest level since August 2016, according to the National Association of Realtors.
