Retail sales recorded a seasonally adjusted total of $617.7 billion in July, a 1.1% decrease from the prior month.
The year started off with strong home price growth and continued for the second quarter of 2021, with 94% of the markets showing double-digit home price appreciation. National median prices rose 22.9% year over year to $357,900.
A strong labor market and higher consumer and producer prices overshadowed COVID-19 concerns, raising yield and mortgage rates. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 2.87% from 2.77%, but even with this increase, mortgage rates are still near historic lows.
Inflation continued to rise quickly in July. Over the last 12 months the inflation rate rose 5.4%, the same annual rate as in June.
To prevent widespread evictions, the federal government provided $46.55 billion in emergency rental assistance (ERA) to eligible renter households through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 ($25 billion) and American Rescue Plan Act ($21.55 billion).
The job market continues to make progress, with nearly a million more employed in the latest month. Compared to the peak employment of the pre-pandemic period, another 5.7 million jobs are still needed, which could happen by the end of the year or in early 2022.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 2.77% from 2.80% the previous week, which translates to more homebuyers being able to benefit from historically low mortgage rates.
Home listings data from Realtor.com as of June 2021 indicates that housing demand in outlying counties of metropolitan areas is growing at a more robust pace than in the central counties, although both outlying and central counties are performing remarkably well compared to pre-pandemic conditions.
Housing starts rose strongly in June, above 1.6 million units and housing inventory has also modestly improved in the last several months.
Mortgage rates rose slightly this week but remained below 3% for the fifth straight week. As of today, the average rate is clocking in at 2.93%.
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