Existing Home Sales, Mortgage Application Volume, Intel

April 20, 2016

Wednesday – April 20

The National Association of REALTORS® reported on Wednesday that March Existing Home Sales jumped 5.1% from February’s decline to an annual rate of 5.33 million units, just above the 5.30 million expected. Sales rose in all four regions of the country. Existing Home Sales also are up 1.5% from a year ago. The median home price in March was $222,700, up 5.7% from March of 2015. March showed 4.5 months’ worth of current inventories; a six-month supply is viewed as normal. Existing Home Sales measure both the number and prices of existing single-family homes, condos and co-op sales over a one-month period.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that its Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, rose 1.3% in the latest week as mortgage rates continue to hover near 52-week lows. The index is at a nine-week high. Within the report it showed that the refinance index was up 3%, while the purchase index fell 1%. The MBA also reported that the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) moved higher to 3.83% from 3.82%.

Tech giant Intel announced today that it will be eliminating 12,000 workers, or 11% of its workforce by 2017. The company said that the slowing Personal Computer (PC) market is behind the cuts. Intel does have concerns in the PC sector, but it feels that the PCs will continue to transform. Another sticking point was slow growth in China, which is the largest part of the weakness. Intel plans to focus on growth areas like its data center business.