Friday, November 14, 2014

Mortgage rates are still very low!

Mortgage rates are still very low!

I walked outside my front door this morning at 5:00AM and listened to how quiet it was.  It was a quick reminder of how quiet the markets have been this week.  Veteran’s Day contributed to the lack of craziness in market activity, however it was more due to the lack of any major economic headlines.
 
Ebola headlines have virtually disappeared from the media.  The threat of ISIS, although, not gone from our lives, has been pushed much further down in the news reports.  With the lack of economic news or world drama this week, we were able to find out own entertainment, or you might call it drama, right here in the United States.
 
The most talked about, and tweeted event of the week was the pictures of Kim Kardashian posing nude in the publication called the “Paper”.  I have never heard of this publication, but that does not necessarily mean anything, because now I have.  Because any and all possible comments have been either spoken, written or tweeted regarding the pictures, I find no reason for me to join in the fray at this time.
 
According to the Mortgage Banker Association, even though mortgage rates are still very low, it is not doing much in prompting refinance activity.  The MBA reported that applications for refinances declined another 11 percent after the prior week’s drop of 6.0 percent.  Purchase mortgage applications rose a miniscule 1.0 percent which is less than the 3.0 percent in the prior week.

It is getting towards holiday time and unfortunately housing activity seems to be slowing.  Next week a couple of housing reports will be released, however they will be reflecting activity from September which is not a true indicator of what is happening in the market right now.

First time jobless claims remain low at 290,000.  This is a 12,000 increase from the prior week’s report.  There are no special factors that are attributed to the increase.  This appears to only be normal fluctuations that occur in the weekly report.

A recent study from Moody’s Analytics is that Millennials are not saving any money.  In fact on average they are running at a saving deficit of 2% per year.  Workers from the age of 35 to 44 have a positive savings rate of 3%.  Part of the Millennials savings challenge has been related to recent years of hard to find jobs.  The labor market is improving so it is hopeful that this negative savings trend will reverse itself.  It is far too early to know how the Millennial’s savings rate will impact housing in the future.

(Since there is a lack of any other major market headlines, I find myself with extra room in my newsletter.  I guess I could go back to writing about my thoughts on Kim Kardashian’s photos.)

JJ Mack
916-517-1800 x 300
JJ.Mack@apmortgage.com
www.apmcroseville.com

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