Current Housing Indicators |
| CURRENT | PREVIOUS | ||
| Existing Home Sales | 4.49m | ▼ | 4.74m |
| New Home Sales | 309,000 | ▼ | 344,000 |
| Housing Starts | 583,000 | ▲ | 477,000 |
| Building Permits | 547,000 | ▲ | 531,000 |
| HMI | 9 | UNCH | 9 |
| Existing Home Prices | $170,300 | ▼ (annually) | $199,800 |
| New Home Prices | $201,100 | ▼ (annually) | $232,400 |
More Videos
- Underwater Mortgages Could Sink Even Deeper
- First Time Buyers Rescue Housing: Realtors
- Housing Recovery 'Still In Uncharted Territory': HUD Secretary
- Shadow Inventory Dwarfs Loan Mods
- The Battered Businesses Behind Housing
- Watch Foreclosures, Seriously
- Home Buyer Tax Credit Expansion Heads to Obama
- Congratulations America, We're All Landlords Now
- Wells Fargo Bets on Housing Recovery
- Home Buyer Tax Credit Done: Does it Matter?
MOST SHARED
- Has Twitter's Finest Hours (Seconds) Come and Gone?
- Fed Likely to Keep Rates Low Despite Dollar's Fall: Bernanke
- Underwater Mortgages Could Sink Even Deeper
- Millions May Have to Repay Part of Obama Tax Credit
- U.S. May Wind Up Green With Envy
- BlackRock: Central Banks To Be Net Buyers of Gold
- Bernanke Offers Something For Everyone
- Madoff Auction: $4,750 for a Decoy Duck?
- Several Credit Card Companies See Default Rate Fall
- Diamonds: The Next Big Bubble to Burst?
- My Ratings on Lowe's & Home Depot: Analyst
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Snoop Dogg Talks Biz
- Paulson Funds Report Q3 Performance
- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Portfolio Snapshot Coming Later Today
- 'Blood and Business Don't Mix' — A Family Business Survival Guide
- Mixed Signals Come From Retail Sector as Holidays Draw Near
- Will the S&P 500 Close Above 1100?
- What Were The Northwest Pilots Really Doing?
- Fed to Keep Rates Low Despite Dollar's Fall: Bernanke
- Millions Could Have to Repay Part of Obama's Tax Credit
- Fed's Fisher: Government Debt Could Push Rates Higher
- Faber: Paulson Funds Have Solid Quarter, Up Big for Year
- What Recovery? Many Homeowners Still Underwater
- Gold Is in a 'Bubble' And Will Keep Going Higher: Gartman
- Diamonds: The Next Big Bubble to Burst?
- Slideshow: Madoff's Luxury Boats Go Up for Auction
- Solar Energy Emerges From a Dark Period
RSS FEED
Realty Check
Text Size 
 |
No question rates have been volatile since the beginning of this year, but the latest survey is up to 6.20 percent on the 30-year (avg. points: 0.47) from a low of 5.57 percent in January.
The culprit is fears of inflation, thanks to high gasoline prices. But even more troubling is the chance that the Fed will raise interest rates, which don’t correlate exactly to the 30-year fixed, but which will push up rates on some adjustable-rate mortgages and home equity lines of credit.
In a speech last night, Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said:
"If inflationary developments and, more important, inflation expectations, continue to worsen, I would expect a change of course in monetary policy to occur sooner than later."
Them’s fightin’ words! So does that slow the recovery in housing even more? Well, I say on the one hand; it won’t help.
But on the other hand, the mortgage market today is less about rates, which are still historically low (last year at this time the 30-year fixed was at 6.47 percent) and more about your credit quality, the size of your loan and how much money you can afford to put down.
The spread on the jumbo is still well over a full point, and if you don’t have 20 percent to put down on your home, you can forget that 6 percent on a conforming.
I worry more about the effect on the adjustables that folks already have. Payment reset shock has been fuelling loan defaults, but it has been moderated somewhat by the lower interest rates. Throw those low rates out, and you’re looking at more borrowers handing in the keys.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes