Is Now the Time To Buy? Mortgage Watch – January 10, 2021

To find out if now is the time to buy, check out this week’s mortgage highlights:

• A riot in Washington DC, an employment report featuring 140,000 jobs lost, and a struggling vaccine rollout all sound like an ideal formula for decreasing mortgage rates.

• While mortgage rates did set a new record low last week, optimism surged on other news. With both houses of Congress and the White House now in Democratic control, the probability of additional fiscal stimulus grew.

• The pace of vaccines may also increase with a change in policy in the new administration, which might move us toward herd immunity quicker.

• The ISM indices both moved upward, despite expectations for decreases. The Fed meeting minutes highlighted a Fed focused on flexibility in pursuing its goals.

• This week holds important inflation data, plus Retail Sales and Industrial Production reports. After last week’s strong showing for both ISM indices, an increase in Retail Sales, rather than the expected small decrease could fuel growing upward pressure on all interest rates.

• Should Industrial Production also come in over expectations, it will be challenging for mortgage rates not to be moving upward.

• So is now the time to buy for you? Purchasing a home is about finding the perfect time in YOUR life. Click here to start your home search and see what’s available in today’s real estate market that fits your needs.

Suburban Exodus Reversing Course?

As the pandemic began, many city dwellers fled urban areas in search of less human congestion. Smaller cities saw an influx of new residents, and some experts wondered how real estate in big cities would survive. But the allure of urban life may have only faded for a short period. New York, Boston, and Chicago are all reporting surging home sales. Vacation homes may be the real winner in all of the shuffling, as city folk look to secure second homes outside of the big metros…