TODAY’S RATES & HOUSING NEWS
Mortgage rates had a great week until the jobs numbers starting to come in on Thursday culminating with the BLS Jobs Report on Friday.
There were 339,000 jobs created in May 2023, compared to an estimated 190,000 jobs.
The jobs number blew the estimates out of the water.
On top of that, April was revised higher 41,000 jobs and March was revised higher 52,000 jobs.
Unfortunately, these reports are what the FED uses to justify their monetary policy.
If job creation is high, they can continue to raise the Federal Funds Rate.
The good news is that rates improved so much before Thursday and Friday that the average rate across the country is close to .25% lower – from 7.14% to 6.9%.
Below are average rates across the country today.
Coming next week, we have the Fed meeting and announcement. Many are still predicting a skip in raising the Federal Funds rate even with the high job numbers. We also have the CPI Inflation report next week. It will likely be a volatile week for rates.
ARIZONA LIMITING CONSTRUCTION DUE TO WATER SHORTAGE
Arizona announced last week that it’s limiting construction on homes that require ground water.
Developers believe they could still build with these limitations.
See article below:
CASE SHILLER INDEX REPORTS MORE HOME APPRECIATION
Per the Case Shiller Home Price Index, Home prices rose .4% in March 2023.
Year over year home appreciation is at .6%.
Eventually the Year over Year index will show negative as today’s numbers will get compared to the peak in the market in May / June of 2022.
Home prices have only declined 2.3% since the peak.
After all the ups and downs, home prices will likely appreciate about 5-6% in 2023.
