Consumer prices eased in September for the third-straight month as declines in energy prices partly offset increases in food and shelter indexes. Despite this slight improvement, inflation remains above an 8% year-over-year rate for the seven straight month. The food and shelter indexes continued to rise at an accelerated pace, with the owners’ equivalent rent…
Consumer prices eased in August for the second-straight month as declines in energy prices offset increases in food and shelter indexes. Despite this slight improvement, inflation remains above an 8% year-over-year rate for the sixth straight month. The food index recorded its largest annual gain since May 1979 as all six major grocery store food…
Consumer prices eased slightly from a 40-year high in July as declines in energy prices offset increases in food and shelter indexes. Despite this improvement, inflation remains above an 8% rate for a fifth straight month. The food index recorded its largest annual gain since May 1979 as all six major grocery store food group…
In the past month, total mortgage activity, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, underwent a series of weekly declines, decreasing in the latest week by 6.3 percent. The latest week’s survey is for the week ending April 1. The latest week’s activity consisted of a 3.4 percent decrease in purchasing…
The first of many expected Federal Reserve hikes of the short-term federal funds rate was announced today. Combined with future balance sheet runoff, these monetary policy moves will lead to higher mortgage rates in 2022 and 2023 as the Fed attempts to curb elevated inflation. As widely expected by forecasters and markets, the Fed raised…
Home building in the 2010s was a story of the Long Recovery. After the Great Recession, the number of home builders declined significantly, and housing production was unable to meet buyer demand. This deficit of housing in the United States continues to exist because of persistent supply-side headwinds for builders, creating a critical housing affordability…
