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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: russwinter who wrote (6024)	1/23/2004 4:55:49 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Housing News northerntrust.com Employment Should Pickup To Absorb Current Supply of New Homes (should or will? And..... IF interest rates were hiked exactly what would that do for home sales and construction jobs? I know some here just don't care, cause gold and food are higher. Is that really a good tradeoff? Even IF you think it is, does the person calling the shots think it is?) The current mortgage rate environment favors purchases of new and existing homes. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage has dropped to 5.55% during the week ended January 16, a notable decline from the high reading of 6.37% posted in August 2003. However, the recent trend of home purchases suggests that support from employment will be necessary to maintain the momentum of the housing sector. Sales of new homes dropped in four out of five months ended November. Sales of existing homes fell in October and November. As the chart below indicates, there is gradual upward trend in the number of new homes carrying “for sale” signs in recent months. The number of unsold new homes is up 7.4% from a year ago and the number of unsold existing homes has risen 8.2% from a year ago. Although the inventory-sales ratio show only a small uptick, if employment conditions fail to post substantial gains, the supply of unsold homes could present a problem. In other housing market news, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage purchase index shot up to 501.6 during the week ended January 16, the highest on record. The recent decline in mortgage rates has translated into three consecutive weekly gains in the purchase index. The impact of the decline in mortgage rates will be clear only after the December home sales numbers are published later this month.