What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – March 27, 2023

Last week’s financial and economic reporting included readings on sales of new and previously-owned homes, along with weekly data on mortgage rates and jobless claims. Single-Family Home Sales Rise in February Year-over-year sales of previously owned homes rose 14.5 percent to a seasonally-adjusted pace of 4.58 million sales. Analysts expected 4.20 million sales of pre-owned homes as compared to January’s year-over-year reading of 4.0 million sales. February’s increased sales halted 12 months of falling sales of previously-owned homes. February’s reading marked the highest pace of sales since July 2020, when sales of pre-owned homes rose by 22.40 percent. The National…
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Mortgage Interest Rate Versus APR: What To Know

When you go through the process of applying for a mortgage, you need to make sure you understand all of the terms on the page. Two of the most common numbers you will come across include the mortgage rate and the APR. Many people associate both of these numbers with interest rates, but you will probably notice that they are not quite the same. What are the differences between these two numbers, and how are they going to impact your mortgage loan? The Mortgage Interest Rate The first number you are probably going to look at is the mortgage interest…
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – March 20, 2023

Last week’s economic reporting included readings on housing starts and building permits issued, the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index, and Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s Senate testimony. The Commerce Department reported on housing starts and building permits issued published, and a monthly reading on consumer sentiment was published. Weekly reports on mortgage rates and jobless claims were also released. Two bank failures instill fear in depositors In the aftermath of two bank failures last week,  US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that “the banking system is sound” during testimony to the US Senate last Thursday. When asked if…
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – March 13, 2023

Last week’s economic reporting included Fed chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to the House of Representatives, data on job growth, and weekly readings on mortgage rates and jobless claims. Fed: Chairman Powell says no decision on March rate hike Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that no decision has been made about raising the Fed’s target interest rate range in March. Mr. Powell said, “We have not made any decision about the March meeting. We’re not going to do that until we see the additional data.” Mr. Powell said that the Fed is not on a “pre-set path. We will be…
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – March 6, 2023

Last week’s economic reporting included readings from S&P Case-Shiller home price indices, data on pending home sales, and weekly readings on mortgage rates and jobless claims. S&P Case-Shiller: December Home Price Growth Slows in 20-City Index Home price growth slowed in December according to S&P Case-Shiller’s 20-City Home Price Index. Home prices rose by 4.60 percent year-over-year as compared to November’s year-over-year home price growth rate of 6.80 percent. The top three cities for home price growth in the 20-City Index were Miami, Florida, Tampa, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia. Former leading cities for home price growth have fallen to the…
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – February 27, 2023

Last week’s economic reporting included readings on sales of previously-owned homes, the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting, and weekly readings on average mortgage rates and jobless claims. Federal Reserve leaders raise key interest rate range The Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve raised the Fed’s key interest rate range by 25 basis points to 4.50 to 4.75 percent. Fed officials cautioned that failure to ease inflationary pressure by raising interest rates could lead to inflation remaining higher than the Fed’s target inflation pace of two percent per year. In other matters, …
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – February 13, 2023

Last week’s economic reporting included coverage of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech to the Economic Club of Washington and the University of Michigan’s data on consumer sentiment. Weekly readings on mortgage rates and jobless claims were also published.   Federal Reserve: Chairman Jerome Powell Says the “Disinflationary Process” is Ongoing Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks made to the Economic Club of Washington that the “disinflationary process” has started, but he also indicated that January’s unexpectedly strong jobs report indicated that further interest rate hikes are necessary: “We think we need to do further rate increases and we…
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