Mortgage Rates weekly market update for the Week of May 4, 2015, by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. in Newark, Delaware. John Thomas is the Branch Manager, a 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 jumped higher to end the week last week as mortgage bonds sold off.  If you look at the mortgage bond chart below you-you can see the short term trend is now for mortgage bonds to sell off and move mortgage rates higher as shown with the blue line downward.  Mortgage bonds sold off on Friday as the US Stock Market Rallied so with the short term trend for bonds to move lower, we are recommending LOCKING your Mortgage Rate to start the week.

In Economic News, the first reading on GDP for the 1st quarter of 2015 came out at a very low 0.2% which was well below expectations and down from 2.2% from the fourth quarter of 2014.  All parts of the report were weak including consumer spending which is a big driver of economic activity.  Consumer Spending dropped from 4.4% to only 1.9%.  The report also revealed that due to the fall in oil prices, investment in mining exploration, shafts, and wells, for example, plummeted 48%.

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims were released on Thursday and came out at 262,000 claims which are a drop of 34,000 claims from the previous week.  This was the lowest jobless claims reading in 15 years which is a very good sign for the labor market.

The Feds favorite measure of inflation is the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) showed tepid signs of inflation by being up only 0.2% and 1.3% year over year.  With inflation well below the Feds target of 2% and the Fed being very data dependent, we don’t see the Feds raising short terms interests any time soon.

In Housing News, Case Shiller 20 City Home Price Index for February 2015 show home prices increased 5% year over year from February 2014.  This was the fastest rate of annual growth in the last 6 months.  Home Prices rose 0.5% from January 2015 to February 2015.

Pending Home Sales for March 2015 were up 1.1% from February and up a whopping 11.1% year over year!  Pending home sales measure the number of contracts signed to purchase existing homes for sale.

USDA Rural Housing Loan Underwriting Turn Times at Rural Development for files in Delaware as of 5/1/2015 they are working on reviewing files that have been submitted on 4/23/2015 so they are taking about 10 Business days to review files currently so plan your closing dates accordingly.

First Time Home Buyer Seminars Coming Up:

The next Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, May 30, 2015, in Newark, Delaware.

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

If you would like to apply for a Mortgage Loan, you can APPLY ONLINE HERE, you can call John Thomas at 302-703-0727.

John R. Thomas – NMLS 38783

Certified Mortgage Planner – Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc.

302-703-0727 DE Office / 610-906-3109 PA Office / 410-412-3319 MD Office

248 E Chestnut Hill Rd, Newark, DE 19713