Each day the Research staff takes a look at recently released economic indicators, addressing what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update highlights jobless claims and the 10-year Treasury borrowing rate.

  • Though there was no significant change on a weekly basis, new jobless claims are at the 400,000 level which economists generally view as a point at which the economy is creating more jobs than losing.
  • The four-week average fell for the fifth consecutive week, down 6,750 claims to 407,750. This is about 20,000 claims lower from a month-ago. Continuing claims rose 10,000 for the week of July 23 to 3.730 million.
  • The largest increases in initial claims were in Maine, Wyoming, North Dakota, New Mexico, and South Dakota while the largest decreases were in California, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina.
  • Assuming that new jobless claims continue to trend down, NAR expects about 1.5 to 2 million net new jobs in the next 12 months.
  • Separately, the 10-year Treasury borrowing rate fell significantly today to 2.66 percent. That is a 32 basis points drop from last week’s rate of 2.98 percent and 3.22 percent rate from the beginning of July. This sudden drop suggests mortgage rates should be following soon and a unique mortgage borrowing opportunity for homebuyers.

Capture

Advertisement