As rates on conventional mortgages head back above 7%, homebuyer demand for purchase loans is wilting, with applications dropping for a 3rd week in a row last week, MBA survey finds
Some borrwers were quick to spring into action, with applications for purchase loans rising by a seasonally adjusted 2% and requests to refinance up 5% week over week, MBA survey shows
Rates have been in retreat as bond market investors who fund most mortgage loans react to the latest economic news and scaleback in 'quantitative tightening' by Fed policymakers
Fed policymakers will slow the pace of 'quantitative tightening' — an unwinding of the central bank's $7T balance sheet — to $40B a month, less than half the pace envisioned 2 years ago
Rates for conforming loans pushed through 7% last week and continue to rise, as latest inflation data and remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell dim prospects that Fed will ease in June
Mortgage rates have already reclaimed much of the territory ceded last year and are poised to continue rising this week as latest numbers show inflation continuing to run hot
With a key inflation report due Friday, rates have retreated to levels not seen in 2 weeks after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signals central bank could ease up on 'quantitative tightening'
In addition to anticipating 3 rate cuts this year, Federal Reserve policymakers are considering whether to taper the pace at which they unwind the central bank's $7T balance sheet
'Quantitative tightening' — the Federal Reserve's moves to trim $35B in mortgages from its balance sheet each month — could keep mortgage rates from falling dramatically this year
After picking up during the first 3 weeks of January, MBA lender surveys show applications for purchase loans are contracting, with mortgage rates no longer in free fall from 2023 highs
Chair Jerome Powell says a rate cut at the central bank's next meeting is not 'the base case,' with policymakers wanting to see more data showing inflation is on a sustainable path down to 2%
The Fed chair acknowledged that elevated term premiums — higher rates of return bond investors are demanding to compensate them for risk — could reduce the need for further rate hikes
Dovish remarks from Fed policymakers help ease fears of more rate hikes, bringing yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes back down to where they were at the beginning of October
MBA, NAR and NAHB warned in a joint letter Monday that uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's next moves is disrupting the housing sector and threatens to send the US economy into a tailspin
Employers added 336,000 jobs in September, the biggest jump since January, raising the odds that the Fed will pursue 'higher for longer' rate strategy to get inflation under control