Payne Capital Management President Ryan Payne weighs in on the U.S. economy, arguing that purchasing power will continue to \u2018strengthen\u2019 for the American people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A key measure of home-purchase<\/u> applications surged last week as mortgage rates dipped below 7% for the first time in more than a month.<\/p>\n
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) index of mortgage applications<\/u> jumped 7.1% for the week ended March 8, compared with a 9.7% increase the previous week, according to new data published Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The data also showed that the average rate on the popular 30-year loan dropped to 6.87% last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Mortgage rates dropped below 7%\u00a0last week for most loan types because of incoming economic data showing a weaker service sector and a less robust job market, with an increase in the unemployment rate and downward revisions to job growth in prior months,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s chief economist.<\/p>\n
MORTGAGE CALCULATOR: SEE HOW MUCH HIGHER RATES COULD COST YOU<\/strong><\/p>\n A home for sale in Cupertino, California, on Feb. 7.<\/span> (Loren Elliott\/Bloomberg via Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Housing demand had ground to a halt earlier this year as rates moved higher, but it is stirring back to life as rates start to fall. Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home rose 5% from the previous week. Application volume is down 11% compared with the same time last year.<\/p>\n Demand for refinancing also climbed higher last week, rising 12% from the previous week, according to the survey. Compared with the same time last year, refinance applications are up 5%.<\/p>\n “While these percentage increases are large, the level of refinance activity remains quite low, and we expect that most of this activity reflects borrowers who took out a loan at or near the peak of rates in the\u00a0past two years,” Fratantoni said.<\/p>\n WHY ARE GROCERIES STILL SO EXPENSIVE?<\/strong><\/p>\n The interest rate-sensitive housing market has cooled rapidly as a result of the Federal Reserve’s<\/u> aggressive tightening campaign. Policymakers lifted the benchmark federal funds rate 11 times over the course of 16 meetings in an attempt to crush stubborn inflation and slow the economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houses in San Jose, California, on Feb. 7.\u00a0<\/span> (Loren Elliott\/Bloomberg via Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Central bank officials have opened the door to cutting interest rates this year but indicated they will not do so until they are confident that inflation is conquered.<\/p>\n “The committee does not expect that it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell<\/u> said\u00a0last week while testifying on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Now, most economists expect the cuts to begin in June amid signs that inflation remains abnormally high.<\/p>\n Higher mortgage rates have not only weighed on consumer demand, they have limited inventory. That is because sellers who locked in a low mortgage rate before the COVID-19 pandemic have been reluctant to sell with rates continuing to hover near a two-decade high, leaving few options for eager would-be buyers.<\/p>\n Available home supply remains down a stunning 34.3% from the typical amount before the pandemic began in early 2020, according to a separate report published by Realtor.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [ad_2]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [ad_1] Payne Capital Management President Ryan Payne weighs in on the U.S. economy, arguing that purchasing power will continue to \u2018strengthen\u2019 for the American people. A key measure of home-purchase applications surged last week as mortgage rates dipped below 7% for the first time in more than a month. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) index […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Home](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxbusiness.com\/foxbusiness.com\/content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/931\/523\/housing-19.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
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