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Mortgage Rates Rise in Response to Positive Economic Indicators

Long-term mortgage rates saw a jump this week following better-than-expected economic reports. Freddie Mac released Thursday the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey, putting the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at a rate of 4.46 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending December 5, up from 4.29 percent last week. Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist for Freddie Mac, pinned the increases on encouraging growth in private jobs and new home sales.

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Inventories Add to Third-Quarter GDP Estimates

Third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) advanced ahead of initial estimates, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported Thursday. For the second of its three quarterly GDP reports, BEA put economic growth at 3.6 percent in the third quarter, well ahead of the 2.8 percent growth projected in the preliminary report released early November. According to BEA, the revision reflects an increase in private inventory investment, which was far greater than previously estimated.

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Fed Reports Slowdown in Real Estate Amid Modest Economic Growth

Fed

Modest to moderate economic growth continues to be the theme at the Federal Reserve, which released on Wednesday its Beige Book tracking expansion across its 12 districts from October through mid-November. The Fed reported improvements in residential real estate activity in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and San Francisco, with slower single-family home sales softening real estate in most of the remaining districts.

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October New Home Sales Speed to Fastest Pace in Six Months

Sales of new single-family homes were at an estimated seasonally adjusted annual pace of 354,000 in September, Census and HUD reported. In October, the sales pace picked up to an estimated 444,000, an increase of 25.4 percent month-over-month and 21.6 percent year-over-year. As of month's end, the seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale for 183,000, representing a 4.9 month supply at the current sales rate, the agencies reported.

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