Tag: #mortgagerates #mortgagenews # mortgage

The U.S. Census Bureau says July’s expenditures on all types of construction was at a seasonally adjusted rate of $1.569 trillion compared to $1.563 trillion in June. This is an increase of 0.3 percent and 9.0 percent higher than expenditures in July 2020.

On a non-adjusted basis, total spending for the month was $144.046 billion, up from $141.545 billion the previous month. For the year-to-date (YTD), spending has totaled $883.208 billion, a 6.2 percent increase over spending in the first seven months of 2020.

With the exception of residential, spending in every construction category is down YTD. The biggest deficits are in spending on office construction and public safety. Both are just over 30 percent below their levels during the same period last year.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a series of actions aimed at assisting in the Biden Administrations goal of creating, preserving, and selling about 100,000 affordable houses over the next three years. HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said, “These actions will expand access to critical capital for state Housing Finance Agencies, empower local communities to build more affordable housing using the historic investments contained in the American Rescue Plan, and advance equitable housing policies such as inclusionary zoning practices.” The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released the following statement from its president and CEO Bob Broeksmit in support of the initiatives. “MBA strongly supports the administration’s efforts to increase the housing supply by encouraging the construction and rehabilitation of affordable apartments and homes for renters and first-time buyers.

Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 8.4 percent in July compared to a 12.9 percent gain in June.  The portfolio balance at the end of the period was $3.033 trillion compared to $3.021 trillion the prior month and $2.518 trillion a year earlier. Purchases and Issuances totaled $85.899 billion, and Sales were ($1.110) billion. The June numbers were $92.609 billion, and ($1.369) billion, respectively. Single-family refinance loan purchase and guarantee volume was $40.5 billion in July compared to $50.9 billion in June, representing a 50 percent share of total single-family mortgage portfolio purchases and issuances, down from 59 percent the previous month.

Mortgage application volume declined again last week, dragged down by flagging refinance activity. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says its Market Composite Index, a measure of that volume, decreased 2.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index was down by 3 percent.  The Refinance Index decreased 4 percent from the previous week and was 2 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 66.8 percent of total applications from 67.3 percent the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index gained 1 percent on the prior week but fell 2 percent on an unadjusted basis. It was 16 percent lower than the same week in 2020.