Mortgage Rates Weekly Update [November 5 2018]

John Thomas November 5, 2018 Tags: Delaware Mortgage Rates, mortgage rates

Mortgage Rates Weekly Update for November 5, 2018

Mortgage Rates Update for November 5, 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 have moved higher since August and last week hit a 2 year high for mortgage rates after the Jobs Report for October 2018 was released. If you look at the mortgage bond chart below, you can see mortgage bonds have been in a down trend since August and tried to stabilize last week but bonds sold off on Friday with large red candle after the jobs report and bond broker through floor of support. Mortgage bonds are in a wide range between support at 99.438 and overhead resistance at the 25 day moving average. Mortgage Bonds are trying to Rally off support so we are recommending carefully FLOATING your mortgage rate to start the week but be very careful, if the 10 year treasury move higher toward 3.25% then we would recommend locking your mortgage interest rate right away so please stay in touch to monitor the bond market and the treasury market.

In Economic News

The Jobs Report for October 2018 was released on Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and it showed there were 250,000 jobs created which was much better than the 188,000 expected. There were no net revisions to the jobs report for the two previous months. The three month average for Jobs created is 218,000 which is very good. The Unemployment Rate remained stable and very low at 3.7%, the lowest in nearly 50 years! The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) increased from 62.7% to 62.9%. The big news in the report that the market was looking at was the Wage Pressure Inflation. The Average Hourly Earnings showed that wage increases increased significantly from 2.8% to 3.1% year over year. The average weekly earnings were up 0.5% to an 11 year high of 3.4% year over year. The bond market didn’t like this as inflation is the enemy of bonds.

Gross Domestic Product for 3rd Quarter of 2018 rose 3.5 percent in the first reading. The ideal GDP is 2.5 percent to 3 percent so economy is running above the “ideal” level. The GDP report showed that consumer spending rose 4 percent which was the strongest number since the fourth quarter of 2014. Inflation as measured by the GDP actually declined surprisingly.

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims were released on Thursday and claims dropped 2,000 claims to 214,000 claims for the week. Jobless claims continue to remain at multi decade lows as employers are holding onto their workers and firing people less. This is supported of the low unemployment rate of 3.7% and an increase in the LFPR number.

In Housing News

S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index for August 2018 rose 5.5 percent from August 2017. This is down slightly from 5.9 percent in July but shows that homes are still going up in price, just the rate at which the prices are increasing is slowing. Homes are NOT going down in value. Home Prices were up 0.1% from July 2018.

New Home Sales for September 2018 fell 5.5 percent from August 2018 to 553,000 units on annualized basis. This is the fourth straight month that new home sales fell which was in part due to rising mortgage rates and higher home prices. Supply of new homes for sale on the market was 7.1 months of inventory which is above the 6 months seen as normal. This is the opposite of inventory for existing homes for sale which still remains low.

Existing Home Sales for September 2018 declined 3.4 percent from August 2018 to 5.15 million units on an annualized basis. This was below expectations of 5.30 million units but inventories still remain low at only a 4.4 month supply. The median existing home price rose 4.2 percent to $258,100.

First Time Home Buyer Seminars Coming Up:

Delaware Home Buyer Seminars:

Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday November 17, 2018 in Newark, Delaware.

Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Wednesday November 26, 2018 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Maryland Home Buyer Seminars:

Maryland First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday November 17, 2018 in Hyattsville, Maryland

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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