Market Update: Rates Climb Towards End-of-March Levels; Existing Sales Coming Up This Week

Blog posted On April 17, 2023

Last week, mortgage rates trended higher despite weaker inflation and retail sales numbers. Cooler inflation levels have typically been correlated to lower-trending rates over the past several months, so last week’s news may have come as a shock to some. While there’s no single event we can blame for last week’s increases, we are starting to see inflation reports become less of a concern for the bond market and rates. Instead, jobs reports seem to be stealing the spotlight lately. The markets know that the Federal Reserve is closely eyeing these reports, hoping for a slowdown.

This week in housing news, we have the housing starts and building permits and the existing home sales report. Earlier this morning, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) housing market sentiment index, which showed that home builder confidence continued to rise in April’s report. Though housing starts and building permits for March are expected to slow slightly, existing home sales are expected to increase.

Despite rate fluctuations in recent months, buyers are still coming out in full force. In February, existing home sales surged by 14.5% month-over-month – a huge monthly increase that broke the 12-month decline. As spring buying season continues to heat up, experts are predicting more increases in purchases.

Interested in jumping in this spring? Get started today by getting preapproved!

Sources: Bloomberg, Mortgage News Daily