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7/9: EconUpdate by P. Duffy

EconUpdate by P. Duffy

Purchase loan applications fall 1.8 percent from previous week, down 14 percent year-on-year

What does this mean?  Even with lower rates, higher prices are impacting sales activity.

The Market Composite Index for mortgage applications decreased 1.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, with purchase loans falling 1 percent (and down 14 percent year-on-year) and refinance activity falling 2 percent (and down 8 percent year-on-year).  The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.15 percent from 3.20 percent.

https://www.mba.org/2021-press-releases/july/mortgage-applications-decrease-in-latest-mba-weekly-survey

 

Job openings edged down slightly in May as quits declined by nearly 10 percent

What does this mean?  The labor market continues to absorb extra slack in May as more workers stay with current employers.

The number of job openings edged down 0.17 percent to 9.2 million on the last business day of May, with hires falling 1.4 percent percent to 5.9 million, separations falling 8.36 percent to 5.3 million and quits falling 9.72 percent to 3.6 million.  With 9.3 million officially unemployed persons in May, the gap between job openings and job seekers fell nearly 83 percent from April to 107,000, and the ratio of openings to unemployed workers rose to nearly 99 percent.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t04.htm

 

CoreLogic:  May home prices up 15.4 percent year-over-year, highest annual increase since late 2005

What does this mean?  With rising home prices impacting affordability, home prices are forecast to rise just 3.4 percent over the next year.

National home prices increased 2.3% in May and 15.4% year over year in May 2021, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI®) Report. The May 2021 HPI gain was up from the May 2020 gain of 4.2% and was the highest year-over-year gain since November 2005.    The CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicates that home prices will increase on a month-over-month basis by 0.8% from May 2021 to June 2021, and on a year-over-year basis by 3.4% from May 2021 to May 2022.

https://www.corelogic.com/intelligence/u-s-home-price-insights/