What’s on this week’s financial calendar?
The following events, reports, and announcements may have an impact on the financial markets or mortgage markets this week:
Monday, September 18th
Home builder confidence index – Sept 2023
Tuesday, September 19th
Housing starts – Aug 2023
Building premits – Aug 2023
Wednesday, September 20th
Fed interest rate decision
Fed Chair Powell press conference
Thursday, September 21st
Initial jobless claims – Sept 16th
Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey – Sept 2023
U.S. current account deficit – Q2 2023
U.S. leading economic indicators – Aug 2023
Existing home sales – Aug 2023
Friday, September 22nd
Fed Gov. Lisa Cook speaks
S&P flash U.S. services PMI
S&P flash U.S. manufacturing PMI
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari speaks
San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly speaks.
Is there hope for homebuyers on the horizon?
Economic analyst Hannah Jones believes that this week’s announcement on interest rates from the Federal Reserve may have good news for homebuyers.
Jones says, “As both core inflation and employment have shown signs of cooling, markets expect the Fed to hold rates steady in next week’s meeting as the committee aims to ease the economy into health without overshooting.”
Should the Fed choose to pause rate hikes this week, there’s a chance the housing market could start to loosen.
Jones added, “Should incoming data continue to fall in line with market expectations, the housing market can look forward to stability, allowing buyers and sellers to plan for the future more effectively.”
We’re also heading into a period of time in which home prices tend to recede into the winter. If mortgage rates can cool off as home prices cool off, we could start to see more movement in the housing market.
Where have housing prices dropped the most in Utah?
Utah was among the hottest states in the country to move to during in 2020, 2021, and 2022, but most areas of the state have seen a cool off in activity and home price.
The Deseret News reviewed recent data on home prices and found which counties have seen the biggest decline in median home prices. The centrally located Sampete County showed the largest change in median home prices with a 15.5% decline in median home price from 2022 to 2023. Washington County in the southwest corner of the state came in second place with a 12.8% change. Salt Lake County, the most populous in the state, came in seventh place with a 5.6% change in median home price.
The state has started to see an increase in home prices since January, but home prices are still lower than they were in May 2022.
Housing researchers Jim Wood and Dejan Eskic wrote the report that contained the data. When predicting where the market would go from here, they wrote, “The recovery in prices so far in 2023 is encouraging, indicating that the downward pressure on prices is winding down.” The researchers also expect home prices in Utah to rise in 2024. However, the amount may vary depending on location and demand.
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