Historically low mortgage rates help home prices accelerate

Posted on by Evan in Rate Update, Swanson Home Loans Blog - Mortgage Rate Updates and More

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!  Our offices will be closed on Thursday but otherwise around to help your customers!

Interest Rates

US home loan rates continue to benefit from pessimism regarding US-China trade talks.

US-China Trade

This past weekend leaders from the “G20” met in Osaka, Japan.  Headed into the weekend some analysts had predicted progress between US and Chinese trade negotiators which would likely pressure interest rates higher.  However, it appears that little progress was made and as a result mortgage rates remain extremely attractive.

Home Prices

CoreLogic’s monthly Home Price Index report was released earlier today and showed a jump in monthly home price appreciation.  After months of decelerating home price gains the report showed that nationwide homes appreciated by +.9% in May alone (annualized increase of +11%)!

After increasing by +3.6% from last year CoreLogic is predicting that home prices will increase by +5.6% over the next 12 months.

The Week Ahead

The financial markets are closed on Thursday in recognition of the 4th of July holiday.  I expect trading desks will be thinly staffed so we could see some volatility in stocks & interest rates on Friday.

We’ll get the all-important jobs report this Friday.  Expectations are for +170,000 new jobs for the month of June.  May’s results were a big miss which has helped mortgage rates improve.

Current Outlook: floating bias