Courtesy of Barry Habib @ MBSHighway...Stocks are Higher and Mortgage Bonds are lower after some strong Housing News this morning. Earlier today, the MBA (Mortgage Bankers Association) reported that Mortgage Applications increased by 2.3% from the previous week. Purchase Applications gained 5% and are at their best levels in almost 2 years. Purchases have moved higher 4 out of the 5 weeks and are 16% higher than this time this year. Refinances increased by 1%, with the share of Refinances decreasing to 56% of total application to the lowest level in 6 months, due to the surge in purchases.
In housing news, the FHFA House Price index was reported up 0.7% for February. On a year over year basis, home prices were up 5.4%. This was another strong housing report, right in line with our appreciation expectations.
Existing Home sales for March were reported much better than expected. Sales were up 6.1% at a 5.19M unit pace, which was almost double expectations. Sales were up 10.4% on a year over year basis to their best level in 18 months. The median home price was reported at $212,100, up 7.8% year over year. Supply was still low with 2 million homes for sale, but this was up 2%. Even though literally every aspect of this report was positive, a reporter on CNBC (Diana Olick) tried to put a negative spin on the report.
With home prices up 7.8% year over year, a homeowner who purchased a home last year at the median home price gained roughly $16,500 in appreciation. Viewers who watched and listened to Olick's negativity on the house market over the last year would have certainly missed out.
For those of us in the industry, make sure you're informing your clients and referral partners of the opportunity out there. It's also important to take this news (existing sales, median home price increase, etc.) and bring it down and show how it applies to your local market.
