Freddie Mac Sees Rates and Prices Leveling Off Through 2022

Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Research Group finds a lot to like in the present economic environment. . The company's quarterly forecast credits the increasing availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the easing of virus related restrictions, the passage of the American Rescue plan and its cash stimulus for households, as setting the stage for economic growth and sending consumer confidence to a post pandemic high in March. The labor market, while still needing to add 8.4 million jobs, put 916,000 on the books last month, the greatest gain since August.

Purchases Now Account For a Majority of New Mortgages

Black Knight has launched a new monthly report covering mortgage origination activity as gathered through its Optimal Blue loan product and pricing engine. The company says its Originations Market Monitor will publish a series of key indicators drawn from Optimal Blue data as well as secondary market insight from Black Knight's hedging platforms. The initial report covers activity for March and shows that at month's end the average 30-year conforming rate had increased by nearly 60 basis points over the course of the month to 3.34 percent. Still, this was 20 basis points below the rate at the same point in 2020. Average rates by loan product are shown below.

Mortgage Applications Decline Further, High Costs Constraining Home Sales

Higher interest rates drove the volume of mortgages applications lower again last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of that volume, decreased 3.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended April 9. On an unadjusted basis, the Index was down 3 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index was 5 percent lower week-over-week and 31 percent below its level during the same week in 2020. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 59.2 percent of total applications from 60.3 percent the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index dipped 1 percent on both an adjusted and unadjusted basis and was 51 percent higher than the same week one year ago.