Networking Event! Come learn about investing in Real Estate from local experts. Hosted by AREAA Portland. Event is Thursday June 10th at the Monarch Hotel. Limited capacity, please RSVP to attend.

Rates – ended the week where they started as Mortgage Backed Securities continue to trade in a narrow range between the 25 & 50 day moving averages. The 3 month trend looks favorable for mortgage rates in the short term. Rates are down 1/4% from this time last year.

Jobs – the headline figures showed large gains in jobs (200 was a big number pre-covid) and a drop in unemployment. Non-farm hourly earnings increased 0.5% to $30.33 in May. Weekly earnings increased 0.5%. Hours remained flat for most sectors except for strong gains in manufacturing sector where overtime hours rose from 0 to 3.3. The all in unemployment rate is close to 10.2%

Appreciation – the Core Logic Home Price Index showed a whopping 2.1% increase in home values during April and a year over year gain of 13% – the largest gain since Feb. 2006. If you purchased a $400,000 home in April 2020 it would now be worth over $452,000. Core Logic is forecasting a year over year growth of ony 2.8% in the next 12 months. This seems laughable in light of April’s gains and reminds me of when they predicted -6% appreciation this time last year.
Mortgage Application volume decreased by 4% from the previous week. Purchases are down 2% year over year. Inventory is down 20% from this time last year and 50% percent from 2 years ago. Cash buyers are currently representing 25% of transactions.