Important Jobs Report and Fed Meeting This Week…

As we turn the page and begin a new month, we see mortgage rates continuing to rise this week, and according to Freddie Mac’s survey, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage has broken above 7 percent for the first time in 20 years. Take heart though, history shows us that it could be worse. In fact, at this time November 1981, shortly after rates reached their historical peak, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage was at an insane 18.44 percent! 

Fortunately these days we have so many more financing options than buyers did back then. So, yes, conventional mortgages are more expensive than they’ve been for quite some time but the mortgage industry has responded with products to help both buyers and sellers. And fortunately for you, you have my 20+ years of expertise and access to the widest range of options available to you when you need it. So, call on me anytime, and let’s chat about your specific scenario. 

As for what I’m watching this week…

Redfin reported that in Q3 of this year, 24.2% of buyers were looking to move to new metros for affordability reasons. This represents a record high. Many more work-from-home buyers have options to live and work from anywhere and seem to want sunnier locations like Las Vegas, Sacramento, and Miami. Here in Colorado, we have about 360 days of sun, so lots of great options here as well!

We saw Home Sales drop 10.2% in September, representing the 4th consecutive decline across the US. And as the housing market continues to rebalance we’ve seen the number of days on the market go from 19 to 54 days, according to Zillow.

This week, we’ve got some high-impact events happening. First, the Fed is meeting this week, which always causes some volatility in markets. Also, we have the government’s main national employment report, so we get a good look at the jobs picture on Friday. So, not really any other reports out of the housing market until next week.

As for the employment situation here, 210,000 rise is the call for new job growth in October which would compare with 263,000 in September, which was slightly higher than expected, and the fifth straight month and seventh of the last eight that payroll growth exceeded economist predictions. 

September’s unemployment came in 2 tenths below expectations at 3.5 percent with 3.6 percent as the consensus for October. Average hourly earnings in October are expected to rise 0.3 percent on the month for a year-over-year rate of 4.7 percent; these would compare with 0.3 and 5.0 percent in September, hopefully signaling wage inflation leveling out. 

I’ll be keeping an eye on it all and report back next week.