Mortgage Rates and the price of Mortgaged-Backed securities worsened again this week, remaining at the worst levels since December 2025. Rates are up approximately 0.75% from this time last year.
Home Sales – NAR released their Pending Home Sales report which showed that Home Sales were relatively flat month over month. Sales are down 4.7% year over year.
Retail Sales the Census released their Retail Sales Report which showed that sales rose 1.2% in August. Core retail sales, which removes gasoline, autos, building materials, and food services, rose 1.4%. There was likely a bump from back-to-school shopping but a strong report overall.
Home Equity – Cotality released their Home Equity Report which showed borrowers with a mortgage have a total of $17.9T in home equity (this down’s count non-mortgaged homes). The average household has $310,000 in housing wealth. Looking geographically this equity remains concentrated in the West and Northeast with the delta continued to widen.
Mortgage Applications to purchase homes fell 1% last week and are down 19% year over year. Refinance applications fell 9% and are down 65% year over year. Refinances are making up 39% of transactions, the majority being cash out.
Oil Prices declined slightly to 97.45 this week, down from 99.24.