Mortgage Rate Update April 3, 2014
Housekeeping note: ‘Rate Update’ will be on vacation next week so the next update will come out on Monday, April 14th.
I have maintained a locking outlook since last Thursday and that shift has proved accurate as mortgage rates have risen by ~.125% the past week.
Since we’re in the first week of a new month all the focus is on the all-important jobs report which is due out tomorrow from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Generally speaking a stronger than expected report will hurt mortgage rates and vice versa.
However, there is reason to believe that the “chips are stacked against us” this time around. If the report comes in weaker than expected then the financial markets may ignore the results sighting the influence of temporary winter weather causing rates to remain at current levels. However, if the report comes in stronger than expected rates would still likely get pressured higher. Therefore, from a risk/ reward perspective borrowers probably have little to gain by floating into the report.
The markets are currently expecting ~200,000 new jobs for tomorrow’s report. According to ADP’s private version of the jobs report the US economy added 191,000 new jobs in March.
If you attended one of my seminar/ webinars on the 2014 housing outlook you know one of the profiles of buyers that I thought would be significant this year is wealthy households due to the rebounding economy and strong stock market gains in 2013. The WSJ published THIS ARTICLE highlighting this trend.
I will maintain a locking position.
Current Outlook: locking