Just days ago, weekly jobless claims fell to another pandemic-era low as the enhanced benefits were phased off, the lowest historical level since the Covid-19 crisis began, a drop of 122,000 from the previous week.

  • 22 Oct 2021
  • All, Covid-19
  • Comments Off on Just days ago, weekly jobless claims fell to another pandemic-era low as the enhanced benefits were phased off, the lowest historical level since the Covid-19 crisis began, a drop of 122,000 from the previous week.

Jobless Claims Fall Again As Enhanced Pandemic Benefits Fade Away

Last week, weekly jobless claims fell to another pandemic-era low as the enhanced benefits were phased off, sending fewer people to the unemployment line. The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time unemployment insurance filings totaled 290,000 for the week ending October 16th, down 6,000 from the previous week. Claims fell below 300,000 for the second consecutive week. Continuing claims also declined to 2.48 million, the lowest level since the Covid-19 crisis began, a drop of 122,000 from the previous week. 

Both decreases are the lowest since March 14th, 2020, and come a month after most pandemic-related programs that provided enhanced or extended benefits came to an end. The data suggest that the United States is getting closer to its pre-pandemic labor market normal, though there is still a long way to go.

Construction Numbers Fall Back from August Levels

Single-family permits fell 0.9 percent from the previous month to 1.041 million units annually, down from 1.050 million in August. Permits for multifamily development (units in buildings with five or more units) declined 21.0 percent from August to 498,000 units in September 2020. Year-to-date (YTD), 1.303 million permits have been issued, a 22.7 percent increase over the 1.062 million allocated during the same period in 2020.

Construction starts declined by 1.6 percent in September to 1.555 million; this was 7.4 percent higher than the 1.448 million recorded in September 2020. Single-family starts remained flat at 1.080 million permits per year, down 2.3 percent from 1.105 million permits a year ago. Permits for multifamily housing were down 5.1 percent from August, but up 38.2 percent from a year ago, at 467,000 units.

Despite the poor September statistics, the first nine months of the year saw a total of 1.214 million starts, significantly ahead of last year; this is up 19.5% from the 1.016 million recorded at the same time in 2020.

By the end of September, there were 992,000 housing units completed, a 6.0 percent increase over the 935,800 units completed during the same period the previous year. Single-family completions are up 7.1 percent to 710,500, while multifamily completions are up 4.2 percent to 276,400. There were also 1.426 million residences under construction and a backlog of 250,000 construction permits.

Higher Mortgage Rates are a Risk for Borrowers Who Wait, Forecasts Say

On Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said that total mortgage demand — including applications to refinance and purchase homes — decreased 6.3 percent from the previous week. Requests for housing loans fell 5%, while refinancing applications dropped 7% of the prior week and were 22% lower than the same period a year ago. According to the mortgage bankers’ weekly survey, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 3.23 percent last week, the most since April. The average rate for a 15-year mortgage, popular among refinancing homeowners, has risen to 2.54%, the highest level since July.

Mortgage rates are still historically low, despite recent hikes. However, current reports show that they will continue to rise. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage companies, recently produced separate estimates indicating that 30-year mortgage rates will average in the mid-3% level next year. Meanwhile, according to a recent prediction, the Mortgage Bankers Association anticipates that rates will average 4% in 2022. Despite projections of increased rates, borrowing costs are still lower than before COVID-19, at least for the time being.

Next week’s potential market-moving reports are:

  • Monday, October 25th – No Report
  • Tuesday, October 26th – S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, New Home Sales
  • Wednesday, October 27th – No Report
  • Thursday, October 28th – Initial Jobless Claims, Continuing Jobless Claims, Pending Home Sales
  • Friday, October 29th – Consumer Spending, Employment Cost Index

As your mortgage and real estate professional, I am happy to assist you with any information you may need regarding mortgage or real estate trends.  I welcome the opportunity to serve you in any way I possibly can. Please feel free to reach me at (800) 216-1047

California Platinum Loans

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Are Young Homebuyers Priced Out of the Market? Investigate How to Buy Your First Dream Home in Your 20s

If you’re in your 20s and thinking about buying a house, it’s easy to understand how you could be confused and overwhelmed. According to a study by the National Association of Realtors, people under 35 with student loans are postponing home buying by an average of 8 years. But buying a home while in your 20s is not only a possibility, you’ve got a lot of resources that could make it happen for you. First, we’d like to dispel a few myths about home buying that could have been keeping you out of the home market.

Student loans will prevent you from buying a home

The problem of student loan debt is finally on the national agenda, and lawmakers are seriously discussing reducing the interest on student loans or even forgiving some or all student loan debt. Although this plan is still under discussion, some homebuilders and the majority of states offer home buying assistance programs for people whose student loan debt is preventing them from buying a home.

California offers the CalHFA “My Home” first time homebuyer assistance program which provides down payment and closing cost assistance. CalHFA also works with counties to offer tax credits to make mortgage payments more affordable for first-time homebuyers. A first-time homebuyer is anyone who has not purchased a home during the past three years. So, even if you’ve bought and sold a home before, you could be eligible for one of these programs as long as it hasn’t been during the past three years.

Work on your credit score

These days, you can sign up to monitor your credit score via dozens of apps and financial programs. The majority of credit cards and financial institutions offer free or very low cost credit score monitoring. Learn how your credit score works and work to increase it. Your debt-to-income ratio and credit use ratio will affect your credit score, along with any late payments.

You’ll want to increase your credit score as much as possible: ideally to 660 or better. However, some mortgage programs, including FHA home mortgages, can offer loans to people with credit scores as low as 580.

Work with a knowledgeable realtor and mortgage broker

Everyone is online and connected, and you can shop for homes using your mobile device — even apply for a mortgage. But many home loan programs still work through mortgage brokers. And, not every home for sale is a featured listing on an online home search service. The personal touch still matters — it might matter more than ever these days. You can learn what your alternatives in home buying really are by working with a mortgage and home buying professional.

Sources

https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/student-loan-ranger/articles/2017-10-11/new-homebuyer-programs-help-student-loan-borrowers

https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/how-to-buy-a-house-in-your-20s/

California Platinum Loans

  https://californiaplatinumloans.com

As shown in a new survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), home affordability in the United States increased for the second month in a row in August Despite surging prices

Rates Fall For the First Time in Over a Week

Intraday movements in the bond market and mortgage rates are closely followed. Mortgage rates rarely stay the same for more than five business days without decreasing at least once—even if only slightly. Thankfully, we finally saw some movement in rates declining which put an end to that trend (rates hadn’t improved since Monday).

Bonds initially reacted negatively to today’s inflation news (spoiler alert: it’s still high), but they eventually recovered and settled down. The 30-year Treasury bond auction that went better than expected added to the positive response in the bond market and the slight decline of interest rates.

Fed Could Begin ‘Gradual Tapering Process’ by Mid-November

According to the minutes from the central bank’s September meeting released Wednesday, Federal Reserve officials could begin lowering what seems like the never-ending interest rate assistance they’ve been providing to the economy as early as mid-November. Moreover, members believe the Fed is near to completing its economic goals and will soon begin normalizing policy by slowing the pace of its monthly asset purchases.

The Fed would gradually cut the $120 billion in monthly bond purchases, a practice known as tapering. According to the minutes, the central bank would likely begin by eliminating $10 billion in Treasury bonds and $5 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month. The Fed is now buying Treasurys worth at least $80 billion and MBS worth at least $40 billion. Should there be no setbacks, the target date to end the purchases would be mid-2022.

Affordability Improved in August Despite Surging Prices

As shown in a new survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), home affordability in the United States increased for the second month in a row in August. The National Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index increased from 150.6 in July to 151.3 in August. However, it was still down from 165.8 in July.

The most affordable region was the Midwest, with an index value of 196.8 (median family income of $86,614 with the qualifying income of $44,016). The least affordable region remained the West, where the index was 114.9 (median family income of $94,372 and the qualifying income of $82,128).

Next week’s potential market-moving reports are:

  • Monday, October 18th – National Association of Home Builders Index
  • Tuesday, October 19th – Housing Starts (SAAR)
  • Wednesday, October 20th – No Report
  • Thursday, October 21st – Initial Jobless Claims, Continuing Jobless Claims, Existing Home Sales
  • Friday, October 22nd – No Report

As your mortgage and real estate professional, I am happy to assist you with any information you may need regarding mortgage or real estate trends.  I welcome the opportunity to serve you in any way I possibly can. Please feel free to reach me at  (800) 216-1047.

Source – https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/news/10122021-affordable-housing

California Platinum Loans

  https://californiaplatinumloans.com