The Week Ahead: Tracking Mortgage Rates in 2020

Freddie Mac will release its Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, January 9, after the most recent release reports a decline in mortgage rates. 

The PMMS, for the week ending on January 2, revealed the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was at 37.2%— a decline from the prior weeks 3.74%. Mortgage rates at this time last year were 4.51%. 

“The combination of improved economic data and market sentiment has led to stability in mortgage rates, which have hovered around 3.7% for nearly the last two months,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “The stability is welcome news after the interest rate turbulence of the last year, which caused a slowdown in the housing market and other interest rate sensitive sectors. The low mortgage rate environment combined with the red-hot labor market is setting the stage for a continued rise in home sales and home prices.”

Lower mortgage rates have helped spur home sales in recent months, as the U.S. Census Bureau reported new home sales rose 1.3% month-over-month in November and is 16.9% higher than November 2018 numbers. 

An estimated 719,000 homes were sold during the month. 

The median sales price for new homes sold in November 2019 was $330,800. New homes had an average sales price of $388,200. For-sale inventory at the end of November was 323,000, which is a 5.4-months’ supply. 

New-home sales in the Northeast saw the largest increase from October, rising 52.4%. The West reported a 7.5% increase, with the Midwest was unchanged from the prior month. The South was the only region to see negative growth from October as new-home sales fell 4.1%. 

The West was the nation’s only region to post a year-over-year decline in new-home sales at -1.4%. 

 

Here's what else is happening in The Week Ahead:

ATTOM Q1 2020 Data Report (January 9)

Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida speaks (January 9)