Tag Archives: market forecast

Pending Home Sales up 13%:

Posted by Michael M on

The NAR building and the U.S. Capitol in the b...

NAR 'DC'

Pending Home Sales are homes that have a purchase contract in place but have not yet closed. The National Association of Realtors released their data for August and it showed a year-over-year annual improvement of 13.1%.
When comparing August to July, pending home sales slipped but less than market forecasts. Economists expected Pending Home Sales to decrease month-over-month by -1.8%. The actual number was a little better at -1.2%. Hurricane Irene, which battered the Northeast at the end of the month, was likely a factor in the decline.

 

Three of four regions throughout the United States saw declines in the number of contracts to purchase previously owned homes. The Northeast region experienced the largest loss of 5.8 percent as a result of significant disruption by Hurricane Irene, according to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. Meanwhile, sales in Midwest and West also fell 3.7 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. In contrast, a 2.6 percent gain in the South helped reduce the total loss of pending home sales in the month.

What Happened to Rates Last Week:

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) were unchanged from last Friday to the prior Friday but we stilled closed down -100  basis points from our best pricing levels in history on 09/22/11.

We had a very volatile week where mortgage rates escalated Monday through Wednesday and then rebounded by Friday.

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 Economic Event Cons. Previous
3-Oct ISM Manufacturing Index 50.50% 50.60%
3-Oct Construction Spending -0.06% -1.30%
3-Oct Fed’s Lackert Speaks
4-Oct Factory Orders -0.10% 2.40%
4-Oct Bernake Speaks
5-Oct Challenger Job Cuts 47%
5-Oct ADP Private Payroll Report 48K 91K
5-Oct ISM Servicing Index 53 53.3
6-Oct Initial Jobless Claims 401K 391K
6-Oct Continuing Jobless Claims 3.7M 3.729M
7-Oct Non-Farm Payrolls 63K 0K
7-Oct Unemployment Rate 9.10% 9.10%
7-Oct Wholesale Inventories 0.60% 0.80%
7-Oct Consumer Credit 7.0B 12.0B

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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