Mortgage Moves | New Home Construction | Interest Rates | Realtors Bail
New trends in the real estate and mortgage industry. A Tale Of Two Markets The housing market remains hot at the start of the year with overall inventory dropping to a record low in January. However, a tale of two markets has begun to emerge, with existing homes falling solidly in the sellers' camp at 1.6 months' supply while new homes remain in a buyers' market at 6.1 months' supply. Homebuilders continue to remain busy trying to make up for a lack of existing homes on the market amid surging demand. Prepare To Buy New This divergence in housing appetite between existing and new is most noticeable when comparing the new homes as a share of total for-sale inventory and as a share of total sales. Existing homes, which tend to be less expensive, are flying off the shelves, while new homes are taking longer to sell. New Housing Construction Is Not Dispersed Equally Diving into new construction activity across housing markets reveals a profound impact, as new construction activity plays a key role in creating affordable housing solutions. A lack of adequate new supply to meet local demand, in large part thanks to overly restrictive zoning and other land use regulations, has discouraged builder activity and pushed up home prices to unsustainable levels in many markets. The Flood (Of Real Estate Agents) Becomes A Shower The lack of homes for sale is also having a direct impact on the real estate agent profession. As housing sales transactions slow due to pricing pressures and still-low inventory levels, the number of individuals entering the profession is also decelerating despite home prices (and commissions) rising. Job openings remain high, but fewer workers considering leaving their current position. Last week, the February BLS employment report exceeded expectations, reporting a 678,000-job increase from January and an unemployment rate of just 3.8%. The January Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) was released Wednesday. Job openings were still elevated at historically high levels as hires and separations flattened. Voluntary separations (quits), however, slipped from 3.0% to 2.8% to start the year. A higher quits rate typically indicates workers feel confident in their ability to secure another position if desired. Nonetheless, the metric remained improved from readings this time last year. Despite global tensions and uncertainty, the U.S. is still poised for a recovery to pre-pandemic employment levels this year. Consumer Price Index up big YoY. The 2022 Winter Paralympics are coming to an end this week (click here for the current medal count) and so is this brief interlude of lower interest rates. With the U.S. CPI skyrocketing 7.9% year over year in February, the Fed is anticipated to raise the benchmark rates by 25 bps. Mortgage applications on the rise as rates drop. After declining through all of February, total mortgage applications increased 8.5% during the first week of March amid a drop in mortgage rates for the first time in 12 weeks. Lower mortgage rates supported a boost in both refinance and purchase activity, but purchase mortgage applications surpassed refinance applications for the second consecutive week. This trend is likely to continue through much of 2022. XCountry Mortgage 11001 W. 120th Ave Suite 400 Broomfield, CO 80021 Company NMLS#2127434 Christopher Malouf NMLS#1935674 https://g.page/r/CU-bVYWVwNOuEAE 303-918-3532 www.XCountry.Mortgage [email protected] Connect with us on Social: / xcountrymortgage / chrismaloufxcountrymortgage / xcountry-mortgage / xcmortgagechris / chris.malouf Other YouTube Videos: Other Resources: https://www.bankrate.com/ https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/... http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mort... #MortgageRates #Refi #Refinance #CashOut #PreQualify #InterestRates #VALoan #Jumbo #NewHomeBuyer
