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