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April Market Update - Latest Housing Market Update


Video Transcript below:


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Well it's April and I have the latest


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figures and news to share with you to


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keep you up to date with what's


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happening in the market, both


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nationally and here in Spokane. My name


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is Phil Wells i'm a real estate agent


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who takes the time to keep up to date


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with the market and I want you to be as


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informed as possible too.


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In this video we're going to take a look


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at the pending home sales from February


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as well as mortgage rates and loan


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applications. We'll also take a look at


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some


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real estate articles that stood out to


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me recently. We'll then try piece it all


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together at the end figure out what it


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all means and see we can predict where


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the market's heading. So let's get into


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it.


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Looking first at pending sales for


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existing homes in February. So why do we


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look at pending sales rather than closed


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sales?


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Well it takes about 30 to 45 days to


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close a transaction


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so if we were looking February's


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closed transactions


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we'd be looking at market activity from


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December or January


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whereas pending home sales in February


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give us the most up-to-date impression


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of where the market's heading.


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A pending home sale is exactly what it


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sounds like, it's a home that's had an


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offer accepted or in some other way has


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ended


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up in escrow waiting to transfer


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ownership. Nationwide contract signings


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fell


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10.6% compared to January and when


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compared to last February


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contract signings fell 0.5%. Where


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i am in the Western Region,


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contract signings fell at 7.4%


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compared to January this year


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but were up overall 1.9% compared to


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February last year. The National


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Association of Realtors chief economist


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summed it up like this,


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"the demand for home purchases is


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widespread, multiple offers are prevalent


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and days on market are swift, but


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contracts are not clicking due to record


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low


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inventory." What this man is saying


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reflects almost exactly what i'm seeing


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here in Spokane.


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New listings are attracting outsized


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attention even on homes that 18 months


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ago wouldn't have been that desirable.


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But there just aren't that many


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transactions happening because there


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aren't that many homes out there to buy.


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If there were more homes available for


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sale in my opinion home prices would


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stop rising so rapidly


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and there would be more transactions


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taking place each month. Looking now


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at mortgage rates. So everyone has been


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hit by radio and tv ads saying that


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interest rates are "near record lows".


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Notice that change in verbiage, "near


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record lows". It used to be "at record lows".


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So what's actually been happening with


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interest rates?


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Sticking with February for a second we


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started February with mortgage rates for


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the 30-year fixed mortgage


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being 2.79% and at the end of February


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they were 3.27%.


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That's nearly a 0.5% gain over a


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one-month period -


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in the mortgage world 0.5%


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gain is huge. I am


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able to give you up-to-date figures for


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mortgages - as of April 7th (today when i'm


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recording this)


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interest rates are 3.34%. So it's plain to


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see that sub 3%


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mortgages are on their way out and will


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this have an impact on the market? We'll


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have to wait and see.


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Sticking with mortgages let's look at


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loan application rates. This is a huge