Who should we believe about housing…the economic reports
released this week…or the real estate and mortgage professionals in the field
every day throughout the United States?
This week three different housing reports were released
indicating that the real estate market is not as strong as people think. However…when you speak with most real estate
and mortgage professionals you will find that they are busier than they have
been in quite a few years working with buyers.
The first housing report of the week was the housing market
index. The index shows some improvement
this month which is an indicator that the new home market is improving
slightly. The contrast to this is when
you speak to an agent working at a new home construction site they will tell
you that the volume of buyers coming is relentless.
The irony of the housing report is that it indicates that
buyer traffic has slowed dramatically yet in every market I have checked,
nothing could be further from the truth.
I may not have access to all the data these so called experts have…buy I
cannot find a single market in the U.S, that has anything but a dramatic
increase in buyer traffic.
The second housing report was for April housing starts which indicated a slow down. However housing permits increased more than expected. April housing starts declined 16.5 percent after rising 5.4 percent in March. The bright side to the report is that April starts are 12.1 percent higher than the same time last year. The key indicator to focus on in this report is that multifamily construction was responsible for the majority of the reported decline. Multifamily construction dropped 38.9 percent after a 25.6 percent gain in March. The single-family aspect of new construction only slipped 2.1 percent in April after declining 4.4 percent the month before.
The second housing report was for April housing starts which indicated a slow down. However housing permits increased more than expected. April housing starts declined 16.5 percent after rising 5.4 percent in March. The bright side to the report is that April starts are 12.1 percent higher than the same time last year. The key indicator to focus on in this report is that multifamily construction was responsible for the majority of the reported decline. Multifamily construction dropped 38.9 percent after a 25.6 percent gain in March. The single-family aspect of new construction only slipped 2.1 percent in April after declining 4.4 percent the month before.
Mortgage rates have quickly reversed direction and have been rising for just over a week. The recent upward movement has negatively impacted mortgage applications for purchases and refinances. Mortgage applications for purchases and refinances both declined by 4.0 percent and 8.0 percent respectively. The good news is that despite the decline, mortgage applications for purchases still remain at the highest point since the real estate meltdown.
JJ Mack
916-517-1800
jj.mack@apmortgage.com
www.apmcroseville.com
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