Jobs data on tap to start the week
This past week was heavy with announcements and speeches from the Federal Reserve. This upcoming week will have a lot of data focused on the current jobs market. While jobs data isn’t a direct influencer of the mortgage rate market, it can impact the housing market, especially if unemployment is on the rise or decline.
Key dates for the week include:
Monday, October 3rd
S&P U.S. Manufacturing PMI
Construction Spending
Tuesday, October 4th
Job Openings
Factory orders
Core capital goods orders revision
Wednesday, October 5th
ADP employment report
S&P services PMI
Thursday, October 6th
Initial jobless claims
Continuing jobless claims
Friday, October 6th
Nonfarm payroll data
Unemployment rate
Average hourly earnings
Labor force participation rate, ages 25-to-54
Buying power & rising rates
Yahoo Finance addressed the issue of buying power and rising rates. The short answer is, higher mortgage rates make it hard to afford a house. When comparing monthly payments from January 2022 to the current market, a payment on the same house could cost a few hundred dollars more now than it did in January simply because the mortgage rates are higher.
Realtor.com states that home buyers in the current environment have lost as much as $107,000 in buying power when comparing January 2022 to the current market.
Was inflation bad in August?
According to Jeff Cox at CNBC, inflation accelerated at a higher rate than expected based on new data. The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index rose 0.6% in August after being flat for July. Comparing year-over-year, the core PCE was up 4.9%. The PCE also showed that personal income grew at 0.3% and spending rose 0.4%.
The concern for the housing market it here is that the Federal Reserve has already taken action to curb inflation with interest rate hikes, and there hasn’t been a measurable slow down in inflation numbers. The Fed will likely stay aggressive, and that could mean higher mortgage rates.
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