Thursday – April 14, 2022
Wholesale inflation jumped to the highest level in the cycle history as producers are paying more for goods and services that they sell to consumers. The Producer Price Index rose 1.4% in March from February while the year over year number jumped 11.2%. The Core rate, which strips out food and energy, was up 1% monthly and up 9.2% year over year. Energy costs were up 5.7% in just one month followed by food prices up 2.4%.
Mortgage rates jumped last week to their highest level since November 2018 for the week ending April 8, 2022, reports the MBA. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.13% with 0.53 in points. Within the data it showed that the Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, fell 1.3%, the Refinance Index decreased 4.9% while the Purchase Index saw a gain 1.4%. Spokesprson Joel Kan said, “In a promising sign of strong purchase demand amidst affordability challenges, both conventional and government purchase applications increased.”
With the price of purchasing either a new or existing home on the rise with no end in sight given low inventories, a number of would be buyers are relocating to making affordable areas even more attractive. Redfin reports that almost one-third of those surveyed looked to move away from their hometown in Q1 2021, an all-time high. San Francisco saw the largest net outflow followed by Los Angeles and New York, NY.
Courtesy of Mortgage Market Guide
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Wednesday – April 13, 2022
Wholesale inflation jumped to the highest level in the cycle history as producers are paying more for goods and services that they sell to consumers. The Producer Price Index rose 1.4% in March from February while the year over year number jumped 11.2%. The Core rate, which strips out food and energy, was up 1% monthly and up 9.2% year over year. Energy costs were up 5.7% in just one month followed by food prices up 2.4%.
Mortgage rates jumped last week to their highest level since November 2018 for the week ending April 8, 2022, reports the MBA. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.13% with 0.53 in points. Within the data it showed that the Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, fell 1.3%, the Refinance Index decreased 4.9% while the Purchase Index saw a gain 1.4%. Spokesprson Joel Kan said, “In a promising sign of strong purchase demand amidst affordability challenges, both conventional and government purchase applications increased.”
With the price of purchasing either a new or existing home on the rise with no end in sight given low inventories, a number of would be buyers are relocating to making affordable areas even more attractive. Redfin reports that almost one-third of those surveyed looked to move away from their hometown in Q1 2021, an all-time high. San Francisco saw the largest net outflow followed by Los Angeles and New York, NY.
Courtesy of Mortgage Market Guide
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Tuesday – April 12, 2022
Small business owners are feeling the pinch of inflation which is on top of trying to find qualified workers to fill positions. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index decreased in March by 2.4 points to 93.2, the third consecutive month below the 48-year average of 98. The NFIB said, “Thirty-one percent of owners reported that inflation was the single most important problem in their business, up five points from February and the highest reading since the first quarter of 1981. Inflation has now replaced ‘labor quality’ as the number one problem.”
Inflation continues to grip the U.S. with rising prices seen from anything to cereal to housing supplies. Big gains were seen in costs for food, shelter and energy. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 8.5% year over year in March and was just above the 8.4% expected and up from 7.9% in February. Monthly, the CPI rose 1.2%, inline with expectations and up from 0.8%. The Core rate rose 0.3% versus the 0.5% expected and down from 0.3%. Annual Core was up 6.5% versus 6.6% expected and up from 6.4%.
Courtesy of Mortgage Market Guide
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Monday – April 11, 2022
Big week for economic data and risk events with key inflation data, large Treasury auctions, earnings season, lots of Fed speak. The headlines will be crammed into three and a half days this week with the Consumer Price Index on Tuesday, the Producer Price Index on Wednesday and Retail Sales and Consumer Sentiment on Thursday. The Treasury will sell a total of $100B in securities this week. Big banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will be reporting earnings. Fed speak will be plentiful this week with four on the docket today.
Redfin reports the pandemic-driven second home buying surge could be slowing as mortgage-rate locks for second homes are at their lowest level since May 2020. The data was collected for its March report. The buying could be coming to an end due in part to rising mortgage rates and higher fees for second home purchases. Redfin says that vacation home demand is still up 13% from pre-pandemic levels and it is expected to remain higher than prior to the shutdowns across the nation due in part to many more Americans now working permanently from home.
The New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Center for Microeconomic Data released the March 2022 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows another increase in short-term inflation expectations, but a decline in medium-term inflation expectations. Home price growth expectations ticked up, while year-ahead spending growth expectations increased to a new series high. Labor market and income growth expectations receded somewhat, and respondents turned less optimistic about their year-ahead household’s financial situation.
Courtesy of Mortgage Market Guide
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