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NATIONAL Housing Market Update: Consumer Sentiment Continues Climb

By Lisa Moroniak

Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty | Northern Virginia | 703.635.0388 0225 189802

February 26, 2012 11:18 PM

The Housing Market Update

Embrace Home Loans

02/27/2012

Consumer Sentiment Continues Climb:

The willingness to "pull the trigger" on a home purchase has more to do with how a home buyer feels about their own financial stability and their view of the economy than any other factor.

So, it is good news for the housing industry to see the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index continuing to climb upward from our lows of last summer.

The reading of 75.3 was a slight improvement from the prior month and the highest reading in a year. It also continues the trend of improving consumer sentiment since our lowest readings in August 2011.

A third of consumers spontaneously reported hearing about more job opportunities, the highest proportion ever recorded by the survey. The U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly fell to a three-year low in January, stoking hopes the labor market is healing.

What Happened to Rates Last Week?

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) gained just +7 basis points from last Friday to the prior Friday which moved mortgage rates slightly lower on a week-over-week basis.

We had a rough start to the holiday-shortened week with the highest mortgage rates on Tuesday afternoon in reaction to the approval of the second Greek bailout.

But the market reversed course for the rest of the week which helped to pull mortgage rates back down.
MBS rallied on a very strong 7 year U.S. Treasury auction and amid concerns that the magical Greek bailout package would not be enough to stem the tide of financial weakness in Europe.

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Office: 800-333-3004 x 3441
Cell: 703-507-1572
hjohnson@embracehomeloans.com

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