Market Update: Rates Fall; Housing Starts and Building Permits, Existing Home Sales Coming Up This Week

Blog posted On November 14, 2022

Last week, the consumer price index for October showed that inflation was much cooler than expected, which in turn gave the markets increased hope for a lower fed funds rate increase in December. When the bond market is happy, mortgage rates tend to trend lower. In this case, they trended drastically lower – marking the largest single-day drop in over a decade, according to historic data from Mortgage News Daily. While this doesn’t ensure a smaller rate hike in the future, it certainly provides some hope in the meantime.

This week, housing starts and building permits are scheduled to come out, as are existing home sales.

Housing starts track ground broken on residential projects and building permits track permits issued. In September, housing starts fell 8.1% while building permits climbed 1.4%. Existing home sales or resales track the sales of previously constructed homes and make up approximately 90% of residential real estate transactions. Existing home sales slipped 1.5% in September. It’s possible that these reports may show slower increases or even declines in their data for October due to seasonal cooling.

Rates may continue trending downward, but it will depend on several factors. They could end up trending higher again as well. To protect your rate, it could be a good idea to consider a rate lock. To explore your rate lock options, contact us today.

Sources: Bloomberg, Mortgage News Daily