Mortgage Rates Weekly Update for January 8, 2018

Mortgage Rates Update for January 8, 2018 by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. in Newark, Delaware. Get advice on Locking or Floating your Mortgage Rate to start the week as well as the latest housing and finance news updates.  John Thomas is the Branch Manager, a Delaware Loan Officer and the author of the best selling book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware.  Call 302-703-0727 for a Rate Quote or Apply Online for Rate Quote

Mortgage Rates moved slightly higher last week after mortgage bonds failed to break above the 50 day and 25 day moving average and were turned lower as the stock market set another record high to end the week.  If you at the mortgage bond chart below you can see mortgage bonds are stuck trading between the ceiling of resistance and floor of support shown by the blue lines.  Bonds failed to rally above the blue line on Tuesday and were turned lower and sold off after the jobs report on Friday.  We recommend starting the week FLOATING your mortgage rate to see if bonds can bounce off support and move higher but if bonds break below the floor of support we would quickly recommend LOCKING your mortgage interest rate.

In Economic News

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the December 2017 Jobs Report on Friday which showed only 148,000 jobs were created below the 185,000 jobs expected.  The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1% but the U6 Number increased from 8.0% to 8.1%.  Average Hourly Earnings were only up 2.5% year over year which is what it was last month so there is no wage pressure inflation which is bond friendly news.

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims were released on Thursday and claims moved up 3,000 claims to 250,000 initial claims for the week.  This was the highest initial claims since October 2017 but still well below 300,000 initial claims which is still a sign of a good labor market.

In Housing News

Pending Home Sales for December 2017 were up 0.2% and the index was at 109.50 which is the highest in 6 months.  Pending Home Sales were up 0.8% from December 2016 to December 2017.  Pending home sales measures the number of contracts on existing homes for sale.

CoreLogic Released its Home Price Index for November 2017 which showed home prices were up 1.0% from October and were up 7.0% year over year.  The forecast for the upcoming year is a home price appreciation of 4.2% from November 2017 to November 2018.

First Time Home Buyer Seminars Coming Up:

Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday January 10, 2018 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday January 20, 2018  in Newark, Delaware.

Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.DelawareHomeBuyerSeminar.com

DE Mortgage Rates remain near all time record low rates but having been moving higher as of late, so it is the perfect time to purchase or refinance a home before interest rates move even higher.  Call 302-703-0727 for a free mortgage consultation with a licensed mortgage loan officer that can review your options with you or APPLY ONLINE

Mortgage Rates Weekly Update

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