Wednesday – May 4, 2022
Mortgage rates finally paused last week from their torrid run higher since the beginning of the year. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose was unchanged at 5.36% with 0.63 points for the week ended April 29, 2022, reports the MBA. Within the data it showed that the Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, rose 2.5%, the Refinance Index was up 0.2% and the Purchase Index saw a gain of 4%. Spokesperson Joel Kan said, “Purchase applications increased for conventional, FHA, and VA loans and were up 4% overall. This is potentially a good sign for the spring home buying season, which has seen a slow start thus far.”
Private payroll growth fell below expectations in April as the sector is on an uneven keel. ADP Private Payrolls came in at 247,000 below the 396,000K expected and down from 479,000 in March. The labor market currently has 11.5 million jobs available and there are five million unemployed. The report comes ahead of the more closely watched government Jobs Report which includes Non-Farm Payrolls. It is expected that employers added 391,000 new jobs in April when the numbers are released on Friday morning.
Courtesy of Mortgage Market Guide
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Tuesday – May 3, 2022
CoreLogic reports that home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, rose a record 20.9% from March 2021 to March 2022. Monthly, prices rose 3.3% from February to March. Looking ahead, home prices are expected to increase 1.2% monthly from March to April and a 5.9% rise from March 2022 to March 2023. This comes at a time when the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is currently just over 5% from the 2.98% seen in April 2021. “The annual growth in the U.S. index was the largest we have measured in the 45-year history of the CoreLogic Home Price Index,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. “Couple that price increase with the rapid rise in mortgage rates and buyer affordability has fallen sharply.”
The Labor Department reports that there were a record 11.5 million jobs available across the U.S. on the last day of March. This comes at a time when there are 6.5 million people that are unemployed making it a broken job market. The number of workers quitting their jobs during March rose to a record 4.5 million meaning that those workers feel it will be easy to get another job rather easily. The labor market is still about 1.6 million workers below the level that was seen in February 2020.
Courtesy of Mortgage Market Guide
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Monday – May 2, 2022
Redfin reports typical home buyer’s monthly payment in April was up 39% from a year earlier, the largest gain on record. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 2.98% in April 2021 and has surged to just over 5%. Last year the average monthly mortgage payment was $1,635 and has risen to $2,349 at the current rate. Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. The number of buyers willing to pay such high mortgage payments could evaporate by late summer.”
The two-day Fed meeting kicks off tomorrow and ends Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. ET with the release of its monetary policy statement. The Fed Funds Rate is expected to rise by 50 basis points. The market has most likely baked in the rate hike but what the statement reveals will be key and what Fed Chair Powell says at his scheduled press conference at 2:30. What will the Fed say about its massive near $10 trillion balance sheet? As we speak, the Fed continues to purchase up to $2 billion per day in Mortgage Bonds and that schedule goes for the next two weeks.
Courtesy of Mortgage Market Guide
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