The latest interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve is unnecessary and harmful. Consumer price inflation has been decelerating and will continue this trend. In addition, there is significant additional monetary policy tightening already occurring.
NAR released a summary of pending home sales data showing that March's pending home sales pace fell 5.2% last month and 23.2% from a year ago.
Mortgage rates rose modestly, ticking up to 6.43% from 6.39% the previous week, for an average of 6.3% in April, 2023.
After declining for 5 consecutive weeks, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 6.39% from 6.27% the previous week.
Mortgage rates's drop to 6.27% from last week's 6.28% have created opportunities for many buyers by lowering the monthly payment for a home loan.
The 5% consumer price inflation in March is a steady improvement from 9% last summer, 8% in autumn, 7% during Christmas, and 6% in the early months of 2023.
Since October 2022, the share of buyers purchasing their home without a mortgage has been more than one-quarter of the market.
More jobs mean more potential home buyers. In March, 236,000 more Americans were working and earning income. That brings a one-year gain to 4.1 million and 3.2 million more jobs compared to the pre-pandemic employment peak in February 2020.
Mortgage rates continued to improve in the past week to an average rate of 6.28%, marking the fourth consecutive week of decline.
NAR released a summary of pending home sales data showing that February’s pending home sales pace rose modestly 0.8% last month but fell 21.1% from a year ago.
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