C21AGVoices

The past week was active for economic news and mortgage rates. The aftermath of the Fed’s indication that it may start dialing back its multi-billion dollar monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage backed securities has sent mortgage rates to record highs.

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The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for April indicate that the housing recovery gained ground.

In April 2013 average home prices tracked in the Case-Shiller 10 and 20-city Composites increased by 11.60 and 12.10 percent year-over-year. On a month-to-month basis, the Composites increased by 2.60 and 2.50 percent respectively.

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Comments by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke after Wednesday’s FOMC meeting caused havoc in financial markets as investors anticipated the potential effects of any rollback of the Fed’s policy of quantitative easing (QE). Chairman Bernanke said that the Fed may begin reducing its $85 billion monthly purchase of Treasury securities and MBS toward the end of this year.

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U.S. housing markets are gaining as demand for homes exceeds available supplies in many areas. The National Association of Home Builders/ Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for June increased by eight points over May’s reading to achieve a positive reading of 52. This last happened in August-September of 2002, when HMI monthly readings also jumped by eight points.

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Foreclosure actions increased by 2.0 percent in May from April’s 75 month low point for foreclosure activity according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released June 11.

However, the good news is that May 2013 foreclosure filings were still 28 percent below May 2012 filings.

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Last week’s news was relatively quiet with no data significant to real estate and mortgage lending released until Wednesday, when the federal government announced a $138 billion budget deficit for May.

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Last week’s economic reports provided a mixed bag of results. Investors continue to watch the Fed’s mortgage backed security purchasing trends in order to determine forward mortgage pricing.

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This week’s financial news was relatively limited due to the Memorial Day holiday and no economic reports being released on Wednesday. The biggest news in terms of housing and mortgages was the S&P/Case-Shiller Housing Market Indices (HMI) released on Tuesday.

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The most recent S&P/Case-Shiller Indeces report showed all three composites posting double-digit increases over the last four quarters. The national composite, which is the broadest based index, showed an increase of 10.2% annually.

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The National Association of REALTORS reported that sales of existing homes in April reached 4.97 million on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis. This is the highest report since November 2009.

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