18 Feb 2014
By Mark Feder
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – February 18, 2014

Mortgage Rates
Last week's economic news was dominated by the first address by the new Fed chairperson, Janet Yellen. Tuesday's news included the Jobs Openings report for December 2013, which matched November's reading of 4.0 million jobs available. This information was taken from a gauge of competition for available jobs; in December, competition for job openings fell to its lowest level in five years. Fed Chair Janet Yellen's First Address to House Janet Yellen addressed the House Financial Services Committee for the first time on Tuesday as Chair of the Federal Reserve. Ms. Yellen indicated that she expected "a great deal of…
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10 Feb 2014
By Mark Feder
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – February 10, 2014

Mortgage Rates
Residential Construction Spending Up Last week's mortgage and housing-related reports began with Construction Spending for December, with a reading of 0.10 percent or a seasonally adjusted $930.5 billion. December's reading fell short of an expected increase of 0.40 percent. Spending for private sector projects rose by 1.00 percent; of this amount, residential construction spending increased by 2.60 percent and private sector spending for non-residential construction fell by -0.70 percent. Although construction spending posted a fractional gain, the good news is that construction spending is currently dominated by residential construction and that due to inclement winter weather, any gain in construction…
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03 Feb 2014
By Mark Feder
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – February 03, 2014

Mortgage Rates
Last week brought mixed news; while the Department of Commerce reported a dip in new home sales, mortgage rates also fell. The Federal Reserve's FOMC statement revealed that quantitative easing would be further reduced by an additional $10 billion monthly. New Home Sales: Y-O-Y Reading Best Since 2008 December's reading of 414,000 for new home sales fell short of November's revised reading of 445,000 new homes sold as well as expected sales of $455,000. The consensus figure was based on November's original sales reading of 464,000 new homes sold. The inventory of new homes available rose from last month's level…
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27 Jan 2014
By Mark Feder
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What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – January 27, 2014

Mortgage Rates
Last week was an action-packed week for economic news, and all of it was packed into Thursday: Weekly Jobless claims came in at 326,000 which was lower than the expected 330,000 new claims. This week's claims were higher than the prior week's 325,000 new jobless claims filed. The NAR released its Existing Home Sales Report for December; sales of existing homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.86 million. December's reading fell shy of estimates of 490 million existing home sales, but the estimate was based on November sales that were later adjusted downward to 4.82 million sales…
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