Mortgage Rates ticked up over the previous week as the price of Mortgaged Backed Securities continues to decline. Rates are up approximately 0.75% from this time last year.
Rents – CoreLogic released their Rental Report for February which showed that rent prices are up 3.4% year over year, a big increase from 2.6% in the previous report and the highest year over year level in 10 months. The latest CPI report is showing that shelter costs are up 5.7% so there continues to be a delta in the CPI and rent indices.
Homes Sales – NAR released their Existing Home Sales report, which measures closing on existing homes (not new construction). During March closings fell 4.3% to an annualized pace of 4.19M. Sales are down 3.7% year over year. Inventory ticked up 4.7% month over month and there is now a 3.2 month supply of homes (4.6 months is considered balanced). The Median price point came in at $393,500 up 1.4% from the previous month and 4.8% year over year. Homes are on the market for an average of 33 days, a decrease of 5 days from the previous report. First time homebuyers made up 32% of sales a sharp increase from 26% in the previous report.
Fed – most fed Members are voicing opinions to wait to cut rates, including Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, who on Friday said that progress on inflation has stalled and it makes sense to wait to cut rates.
Mortgage Application to purchase homes increased 5% last week but are down 10% from this time last year. Refinances rose 0.5% last week and are up 11% from this time last year.