Per the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest month’s surveys (the week ending May 6), the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) rate rapidly grew to 5.53%, marking the steepest interest rate increase on record. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased by 2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier,…
Consumer prices increased at a somewhat slower pace in April, the smallest monthly increase since August 2021, though inflation remains near a 40-year high. The food at home and shelter index rose at their fastest pace since November 1980 and April 1991. Though gas prices have fallen from their March highs, the pace of inflation…
In the first quarter of 2022, the Federal Reserve Board’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) on Bank Lending Practices showed a significant net share of banks reporting more relaxed lending standards and weaker demand for most categories of residential real estate (RRE) loans. “Significant” net shares of banks reported weaker demand for all RRE…
Population growth in the United States amounted to just 0.12% in 2021 (between July 2020 and July 2021), the slowest rate on record dating back to 1900. The sharp slowdown in population growth over the past two years is almost entirely due to pandemic-related factors, namely decreased birth rates, increased mortality and decreased net international…
In the first quarter of 2022, non-real estate secured consumer credit, per the Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 Consumer Credit report, grew at a seasonal adjusted annual rate of 9.7%, with revolving debt growing at 21.4% and nonrevolving at 6.1%. Total consumer credit currently stands at $4.5 trillion, with $1.1 trillion in revolving debt and $3.4…
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 428,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6%. The April’s data indicate that the labor market remained healthy despite surging inflation, tighter financial conditions, and the war in Ukraine. Construction industry employment (both residential and non-residential) totaled 7.6 million and has returned to its February 2020…
Following a 25 basis points increase in March, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee unanimously approved a further 50 basis points increase for the federal funds target rate, the largest increase for the rate in more than two decades. The Fed also provided details for its plan to reduce its balance sheet (quantitative tightening), which…
