Pending Home Sales Rise 21.1%:
Pending sales of previously owned homes from March of 2009 to March of 2010 rose 21.1%, showing continued strength in the housing market.

Market Statistics

The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, which is based upon contracts signed in March, increased 5.3% on a monthly basis – building on the prior month’s revised rise of 8.3%.

It is clear that we have seen a steady increase in housing demand with Kentucky houses‘ Pending Sales Up 34%.  Now is the time to start to seriously consider buying now before prices start to accelerate.

Payrolls Increase Again:
The Labor Department reported that Non-Farm Payrolls increased by 290,000.  This is the second consecutive week where our economy has added jobs.  Plus, they revised March’s numbers from 162,000 all the way up to 230,000.

Hiring for the census accounted for 66,000 of the new jobs.  If you subtract the jobs added by the federal government, we can see that the private sector accounted for 224,000 new jobs.  This shows that our economy is adding jobs.  This is the largest increase since March of 2006.  This is very important because housing is not about location, location, location.  It is about jobs, jobs, and jobs!

What Happened to Rates Last Week:

What Happened to Rates Last Week

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) gained +81 basis points last week which caused 30 year fixed rates to decrease for both government and conventional loans to their best levels since March.  MBS pricing increased (which causes mortgage rates to go down) due primarily to Greece.  Yes, Greece.  With concern about their looming default on their sovereign debt and the subsequent “domino affect” all across Europe, money flew into U.S. treasuries and MBS.  This artificial (and temporary) demand helped to push mortgage rates down.

What To Watch Out For

What to Watch Out For This Week:
The following are the major economic reports that will hit the market this week.  They each have the ability to affect the pricing of Mortgage Backed Securities and therefore, interest rates for Government and Conventional mortgages.  We will be watching these reports closely for you and let you know if there are any big surprises:

It is virtually impossible for you to keep track of what is going on with the economy and other events that can impact the housing and mortgage markets.  Just leave it to us, we monitor the live trading of Mortgage Backed Securities which are the only thing government and conventional mortgage rates are based upon.

Mike Dunn, Holleigh Sharp & Jeff Sharp