Housing and Mortgage Market News: Starts and Applications Fall
There are two bits of housing and mortgage market news that have recently come out: Both housing starts and mortgage applications are declining. In this economy, things are getting a little dicey, and it is more difficult to get a loan — and fewer people are even bothering. And as a result of declining interest in buying homes, as well as the difficulty builders are experiencing in getting loans themselves, housing starts are down as well.
ActionForex sums up, rather well, the problems encountered right now with the housing market:
“Unfortunately, there just does not seem to be a bottom for the housing market anywhere in sight,” said Matthew Carniol, chief currency strategist at TheLFB-forex.com. “With credit remaining relatively expensive and difficult to obtain and unemployment rising, don’t expect to see housing improve until prices fall at least another 10-15%.”
It’s just not practical for many to buy right now. With uncertain times plaguing the economy, and with worries mounting about whether or not jobs will be kept, buying a home just isn’t high on the list of things that many households are prepared to do.
Mortgage applications fall
After rising recently, mortgage applications are falling again. Mortgage News Daily reports on the numbers for last week:
The portion of fixed-rate mortgages fell 6.4%, after rising 12.0% previously, while those opting for variable rates expanded 3.4% following the previous week’s 5.7% increase.
Compared to last year, the market composite index fell 41.2%.
Clearly, would-be home buyers are becoming discouraged in the current climate. It is so difficult to get approval for a home mortgage loan that many are just not bothering to try. Besides, what happens when you do get a home mortgage loan, and then you lose your job and default down the road anyway? It’s a bit of a pessimistic climate out there right now.
However, if you have good credit, a reasonable down payment and are fairly certain about your job, the flip side is that this is a buyer’s market and you could get a really sweet deal.
