Market Movement Summary:
Mortgage rates trended lower last week. Home builder confidence fell in February. Mortgage application submissions decreased a couple weeks ago. Housing starts fell in January while building permits increased. Continuing and initial jobless claims increased in previous weeks. Existing home sales declined in January.
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Market Recap:
Home builder confidence dipped to a level of 42 in February, down five points from the month before. This five-month low comes in the wake of tariff concerns and their potential impact on home sales.
Mortgage application submissions fell 6.6% during the week ending 2/14. The Refinance Index decreased 7% from the week before while the Purchase Index slipped 6% from the week before.
Housing starts declined by 9.8% month-over-month in January, falling to an annual pace of 1,366,000 million. This comes after a huge building surge in December. Building permits, on the other hand, inched up 0.1% month-over-month. Despite their projected decrease in January, building permits rose to an annual pace of 1,483,000.
Continuing jobless claims were at 1,869,000 during the week ending 2/8, an increase of 24,000 from the week before. Initial jobless claims were at 219,000 during the following week, which was an increase of 5,000 from the week before.
Existing home sales slipped 4.9% month-over-month in January, down to an annual rate of 4.08 million.
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