National average mortgage rates increased to 6.42% in the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey released weekly by Freddie Mac on June 19th. This is the fourth straight week that rates have increased and the highest rates have been since September 2007. In the week ending June 18th, the MBA’s seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index declined to 360.2 from 376.2 in the previous week. Purchase applications have declined in two out of the past three weeks. The latest figure reflects a 4.25 percent decrease from last week and a 20.12 percent drop from the same period last year.
New and existing home sales moved in opposite directions in April. New home sales posted a rare 3.3% increase in April to a seasonally-adjusted 526,000 homes, up from a revised March figure of 509,000. This is the first time since October 2007 in which seasonally-adjusted annualized sales have posted a monthly increase. Sales for the previous three months, however, were revised lower by 30,000 units. At the current sales pace, there are 10.6 months of new homes supply on the market. The number of new homes for sale continued to decline as builders continue to scale back production. New home inventory declined to 454,000 which is the lowest it has been since May 2005. In April, median new home prices rebounded from its lowest levels since September 2006 in March to $246,100 in April. It was also the first time since November that median new home prices recorded a year-over-year gain.
Annualized sales of total existing homes declined 1.0% in April to 4.89 million units. Sales of existing homes are down 17.5% from the 5.93 million units in April 2007. Median existing home prices in April increased for the second straight month to $202,300 from a revised $200,100 in March. The number of existing homes for sale increased jumped 10.5% to 4.552 million units in April. At the current sales pace, there are 11.2 months of existing homes supply on the market. Existing home affordability declined slightly in March due to the increase in median existing home prices.