Tag Archives: Hurricane Irene

Weekly Rate Watch & Housing Update: Existing Home Sales Up Strongly

Posted by Michael M on

Existing-home sales increased in August, even with ongoing tight credit and appraisal problems, along with regional disruptions created by Hurricane Irene, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Monthly gains were seen in all regions.

Total Existing Home Sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 7.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million in August from an upwardly revised 4.67 million in July, and are 18.6 percent higher than the 4.24 million unit level in August 2010.

Investors accounted for 22 percent of purchase activity in August, up from 18 percent in July and 21 percent in August 2010. First-time buyers purchased 32 percent of homes in August, unchanged from July; they were 31 percent in August 2010.

All-cash sales accounted for 29 percent of transactions in August, unchanged from July; they were 28 percent in August 2010; investors account for the bulk of cash purchases.

Total housing inventory at the end of August fell 3.0 percent to 3.58 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.5-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 9.5-month supply in July.

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) gained 178 basis points last week which helped to move mortgage rates much lower from last Friday to the prior Friday. Mortgage rates moved lower in response to the Fed‘s announcement that they would move from purchasing shorter term Treasuries to buying longer term Treasuries. They also announced that they would purchase more mortgage backed securities with the principal that they are receiving on their current mortgage backed security holdings. The best interest rates were on Thursday afternoon.  On Friday, mortgage rates started to climb back up from their lows.

What to Watch Out For This Week:

The following are the major economic reports that will hit the market this week. They each have the ability to affect the pricing of Mortgage Backed Securities and therefore, interest rates for Government and Conventional mortgages. I will be watching these reports closely for you and let you know if there are any big surprises:

Date        Time Economic Event
26-Sep 10:00 New Home Sales (MoM)
26-Sep 10:00 S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (YoY)
27-Sep 9:00 Consumer Confidence
27-Sep 10:00 Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index
27-Sep 10:00 Fed’s Lockhart speech
27-Sep 12:30 MBA Mortgage Applications
28-Sep 7:00 Durable Goods Orders
28-Sep 8:30 Durable Goods Orders ex Transportation
28-Sep 8:30 EIA Crude Oil Stocks change
28-Sep 10:30 Continuing Jobless Claims
29-Sep 8:30 Gross Domestic Product Annualized
29-Sep 8:30 GDP Price Index
29-Sep 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
29-Sep 8:30 Real Pers. Consumption Exp. (QoQ)
29-Sep 8:30 Pending Home Sales (MoM)
29-Sep 10:00 Core Pers. Expenditure – Price Index (MoM)
30-Sep 8:30 Core Pers. Expenditure – Prices Index (YoY)
30-Sep 8:30 Pers. Consumption Exp – Price Index (YoY)
30-Sep 8:30 Pers. Consumption Expenditures (MoM)
30-Sep 8:30 Personal Income (MoM)
30-Sep 8:30 Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index
30-Sep 9:45 Reuters/MI Consumer Sentiment Index
30-Sep 9:55 Fed’s Bullard speech

It is virtually impossible for you to keep track of what is going on with the economy and other events that can impact the housing and mortgage markets. Just leave it to me, I monitor the live trading of Mortgage Backed Securities which are the only thing government and conventional mortgage rates are based upon.

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