Eye On Housing
As expected, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee, unanimously agreed to hold steady the federal funds top rate at 2.5%. The Fed’s January statement was consistent with recent policymakers’ comments suggesting a more flexible stance toward monetary policy at the end of last year and the start of 2019. In particular, the statement indicated that… Read More ›
As expected, at the conclusion of its September meeting the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee raised the short-term federal funds rate 25 basis to a range of 2% to 2.25% . Markets and forecasters are confident that an additional 25 basis point increase will occur in December. The change in monetary policy occurs as the 10-year Treasury rate, which generally moves… Read More ›
Nationally, the contract interest rate on conventional mortgages for home purchase held steady in October 2016. Over the month, the rate on conventional mortgages for home purchase was unchanged at 3.60%, according to data released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Rates on the purchase of previously occupied homes ticked up 1 basis point to 3.62% while rates on new homes… Read More ›
The statement released following the September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) fell in line with market expectations as the committee chose to keep the federal funds rate unchanged. The Committee’s assessment of the economy remained positive, leaving a December rate hike very much in play. In the statement, the Committee continued its upbeat assessment of labor and economic activity…. Read More ›
S&P Dow Jones Indices and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently released their home prices indexes for September, respectively. The Case-Shiller (CS) national house price index accelerated to a 10.4% seasonally adjusted annual pace in September while the price index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) rose at a 9.5% pace. A surge in sales pushed existing house… Read More ›
After two months of near perfect stability, interest rates on conventional mortgages for newly built homes declined noticeably in October, according to data released this week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The FHFA data show the average contract rate on the loans dropping from 3.98 to 3.92 percent, while average initial fees and charges went from 1.16 to… Read More ›
The Conference Board recently released the Consumer Confidence Index and its two subcomponents, the Present Situation Index and the Expectations Index, for October. The Consumer Confidence Index dropped to a level of 97.6 in October following the September’s optimistic assessment of 102.6. The present situation index declined to 112.1 from 120.3 in September, and the expectations index also decreased from… Read More ›
Data released today by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) show that interest rates on mortgages for new homes declined in September, but the changes were very small. The average contract rate on conventional loans used to purchase newly built single-family homes edged down by two basis points, from an even 4.00 to 3.98 percent—a decline too small to see on the chart… Read More ›
The Conference Board released its Consumer Confidence Index for September. The index is a composite of separate indexes tracking consumers’ assessments of current business, income and employment conditions, as well as their expectations for the future. The Consumer Confidence Index increased to a level of 103.0 in September from 101.3 in August. The present situation index rose to 121.1 from… Read More ›
On average, the contract rate on conventional mortgages used to purchase newly-built homes increased 12 basis points in July, to 3.98 percent, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). At 3.98, this is the highest the contract rate has been since December of last year. Initial fees have some ability to offset increases in a… Read More ›