Graphic:
Excerpt:
The home price data released today by the S&P CoreLogic Home Price Index represents the three-month average of closed home sales that were entered into public records in January, February, and March, reflecting deals that were agreed to a few weeks earlier, roughly in December, January, and February, funded with mortgages that were pre-approved before then, and had rate locks from when they were pre-approved.
These rate locks were based on interest rates in effect roughly from November into February, when the average 30-year fixed rate ranged from 3.2% to 4.2%, with the majority of the time being below 3.8% (green box in the chart). These are the rates that funded home purchases reflected in today’s home price index.
There have already been numerous indicators that the markets for existing home sales and new home sales have run into difficulties at the current holy-moly mortgage rates of over 5%, including sharply lower sales volume and rising inventories in existing homes and falling sales and record spiking inventories in new houses.
Author(s): Wolf Richter
Publication Date: 31 May 2022
Publication Site: Wolf Street