Mortgage Rates and the price of Mortgaged-Backed Securities (MBS) improved slightly this week with hope/speculation of conflict resolution in Iran. Rates are down approximately 0.5% from this time last year.
Jobs – the BLS released their Jobs Report for April which showed 115,000 jobs created. While the headline looked strong Feb was revised lower by an additional -92,000. Additionally, there were 226,000 job losses in April, but the unemployment rate remained the same at 4.3% because 92,000 people left the work force. This is the fourth consecutive week with net job losses, but the unemployment rate has remained the same this year with 1.5M people leaving the labor force.
Home Values – Cotality released their monthly Home Price Insights report and it showed that values increased 0.4% in March and were essentially flat between March 2025 and March 2026. Cotality is forecasting a 5.1% increase over the next 12 months.
Mortgage Applications – to purchase homes fell by 4% but are up 5% year over year. Refinance applications dropped by 5% and are up 29% year over year.