Brooks Group Real Estate Blog Home News

Some Highlights:

• Historically, the choice between renting or buying a home has been a tough decision.
• Looking at the percentage of income needed to rent a median-priced home today (28.9%) vs. the percentage needed to buy a median-priced home (15.7%), the choice becomes obvious.
• Every market is different. Before you renew your lease again, find out if you can put your housing costs to work by buying this year!

Some believe that the combined effects of the new tax code and rising mortgage rates will have an adverse impact on residential real estate prices in 2018. However, the clear majority of recently surveyed housing experts believe that home values will continue to rise this year.

What is the Home Price Expectation Survey?

Each quarter, Pulsenomics surveys a nationwide panel of economists, real estate experts and investment & market strategists. Those surveyed include experts such as:

• Daniel Bachman, Senior Manager, U.S. Economics at Deloitte Services, LP
• Kathy Bostjancic, Head of U.S. Macro Investors Service at ...

By James Brooks

The bond market is up 7/32 (2.4%), which should improve Raleigh Area mortgage rates by approximately .125 of a discount point.

Yesterday?s 7-year Treasury Note auction was not met with the same demand as Tuesday?s 5-year Note sale. 7-year Notes apparently were of much less interest to investors, causing a relatively poor auction. The bond market had a slight negative reaction to the news, but not enough to directly affect mortgage rates.

February's Personal Income & Outlays report at 8:30 AM ET was the most important of today?s three economic releases, but showed no surprises. The Commerce Department announced a 0.4% rise in income and a 0.2% increase in spending, both of which pegged forecasts. The important inflation part of the data also matched expectations. Therefore, we can consider the data neutral towards bonds and mortgage rates.

Also posted early this morning was last week?s unemployment figures that showed only 215,000 new claims...

Interest rates hovered around 4% for the majority of 2017, which gave many buyers relief from rising home prices and helped with affordability. In the first quarter of 2018, rates have increased from 3.95% up to 4.45% and experts predict that rates will increase even more by the end of the year.

The rate you secure greatly impacts your monthly mortgage payment and the amount you will ultimately pay for your home. Don’t let the prediction that rates will increase stop you from purchasing your dream home this year.

Let’s take a look at a historical view of interest rates over the last 45 years.

...

By James Brooks

The bond market is up 4/32 (2.76%),along with yesterday?s afternoon gains we should see improvement to Raleigh Area mortgage rates by approximately .250 of a discount point.

Yesterday?s 5-year Treasury Note auction went very well with several benchmarks showing a strong level of investor demand. This wasn?t the reason for the bond market?s rally yesterday afternoon as bonds had improved prior to results of the auction being posted. But, once results were posted, the lender rate improvements started. They apparently waited to make sure the auction wouldn?t have a negative impact on trading before issuing intraday rate improvements. The strong sale also allows us to be optimistic about today?s 7-year Note auction. Results of it will also be posted at 1:00 PM ET, so any reaction will come during early afternoon trading.

Today?s only relevant economic data was the second revision to the 4th Quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading. The 8:30 AM ET release...

The price of any item is determined by the supply of that item, as well as market demand. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) surveys “over 50,000 real estate practitioners about their expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions” for their monthly REALTORS Confidence Index.

Their latest edition sheds some light on the relationship between Seller Traffic (supply) and Buyer Traffic (demand).

Buyer Demand

The map below was created after asking the question: “How would you rate buyer traffic in your area?”

...

By James Brooks

The bond market is up 10/32 (2.81%), which should improve Raleigh Area mortgage rates by approximately .125 of a discount point.

March's Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) was posted at 10:00 AM ET this morning. The Conference Board announced a reading of 127.7, falling short of the 130.4 that was expected. That was also a decline from February?s reading, meaning that surveyed consumers were less optimistic about their own financial situations than thought. The weaker reading makes the news favorable for bonds and mortgage rates since stronger sentiment usually translates into stronger levels of consumer spending that fuel economic growth.

The first of this week?s two relevant Treasury auctions also takes place today when 5-year Notes will be sold. That will be followed by 7-year Notes tomorrow. Neither of these sales will directly impact mortgage pricing, but they can influence general bond market sentiment. If the sales go poorly, we could see broader selling...

Here are five reasons listing your home for sale this spring makes sense.

1. Demand Is Strong

The latest Buyer Traffic Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that buyer demand remains very strong throughout the vast majority of the country. These buyers are ready, willing and able to purchase…and are in the market right now! More often than not, multiple buyers are competing with each other to buy a home.

Take advantage of the buyer activity currently in the market.

2. There Is Less Competition Now

Housing inventory has declined year over year for the last 32 months and is still under the 6-month supply needed for a normal housing market. This means...

By James Brooks

The bond market is down 1/32 (2.85%),but we still should see a slight improvement to Raleigh Area mortgage rates by approximately .125 of a discount point.

There is nothing of relevance scheduled for release today. The rest of the holiday-shortened week brings us the release of four economic reports that have the potential to move mortgage rates in addition to a couple of Treasury auctions. None of this week?s events are considered to be highly important to the markets though.

Tomorrow has the first report worth watching with March's Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) from the New York-based Conference Board at 10:00 AM ET. This index gives us an indication of consumers' willingness to spend. Bond traders watch this data closely because consumer spending makes up over two-thirds of our economy. If this report shows that consumer confidence in their own financial situation is falling, it would indicate that consumers are less apt to make a large purchase in the near...