Friday, March 30, 2018

US existing-home sales climbed 3% in February

636572248668908718-AP18074625071166.jpg
WASHINGTON — U.S. sales of existing homes rebounded in February after declining for the previous two months, a sign that many Americans are still looking to buy despite rising prices and a shrinking number of homes available on the market.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales rose 3% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.54 million. This increase after declining sales in January and December suggests that competition will be heated during the traditional spring home-buying season.
"The upward trend in home sales remains intact but there are headwinds in the way," said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The shortage of properties for sale is creating a challenge for would-be homebuyers. As sales listings have steadily declined, prices have been climbing at the same time as a stronger job market has elevated demand — and, also, competition — for purchasing homes. Higher mortgage rates this year might also cause even fewer people to list their homes for sale, which would make the current supply squeeze worse.

The median home sales price was $241,700 in February, a 5.9% increase over the past year.
Prices are climbing, in part, because the number of sales listings has dropped. The supply of homes for sale declined 8.1% from a year ago to 1.59 million.

In February, sales climbed in the South and West but fell in the Northeast and Midwest.
First-time buyers appear to face the greatest obstacles from the decline in listings, according to an analysis by the real estate company Trulia. Starter homes have seen the steepest price increases as well as sharp drops in inventory — and a greater proportion of them are fixer-uppers that require additional investment from buyers.

Mortgage rates have been rising after President Donald Trump signed tax cuts into law toward the end of last year. The average 30-year mortgage rate was 4.44% last week, up from an average as low as 3.78% in early September, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.
  
Real estate experts warn that higher rates could prompt more existing homeowners to keep their properties off the market, since selling their homes would require them to then buy a new home and pay more in mortgage interest.

 source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/real-estate/2018/03/21/us-existing-home-sales-climbed-3-percent-february/445184002/

for more real estate training, visit http://rdtrainingsystems.com

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Mortgage Rates Focus Shifts from Fed News to Geopolitical Risk

After dipping by about 10 basis points in the middle of last week, mortgage rates recovered all of that drop and are now in line with where they stood a week ago, just shy of four-year highs. The average prime 30-year fixed mortgage rate quoted on Zillow stood at 4.29 percent on Wednesday.
Incoming economic news and Federal Reserve expectations have dominated market headlines in recent news cycles, but political/geopolitical developments once again seized markets' attention this week. Growing uncertainty about the direction of U.S. trade policy has pushed up the near-term risks to the American economy. Abroad, the results of elections in Italy raise risks to the European economic outlook.

To be clear, Fed news was still in the background: In testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell moderated comments made earlier in the week implying a faster pace of interest rate hikes than had been expected, but Fed Gov. Lael Brainard gave a speech echoing Powell's initial comments. In addition, reports of the likely candidates to fill the Fed's currently open Vice Chair role point to a more hawkish tilt to the Federal Open Market Committee.
The main economic news due this week is Friday's monthly jobs report. Absent a major disappointment, geopolitical news is likely to continue dominating the headlines.




http://rdtrainingsystems.com/mortgage-rates-focus-shifts-fed-news-geopolitical-risk/