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Housing Snapshot

Mortgage interest rates actually declined a bit last week following the first move by the Federal Reserve Board to gradually push up interest rates as a defense against a resurgence in inflation as the economy gets back to operating at full throttle. The financial markets had expected to see an interest rate hike for some time before the Fed's decision, and those expectations were reflected in mortgage rates before the announcement was made. Also, disappointing job creation numbers in June added to recent speculation that the pace of economic expansion has already started slowing down some and that it may still be too early to sound the all-clear on the employment front. New applications for mortgages jumped in the week ended July 2 in response to the downturn in interest rates, but the cost of home financing is expected to continue its slow upward climb as the year progresses. Not much was happening last week on the lumber price front. The cost of framing lumber was $405 per 1,000 board feet, unchanged from the prior week. The price of 15/32-inch 3-ply CDX southern west-east plywood was $295 per 1,000 square feet, also a replay of the previous week. Oriented strand board prices dropped $10, to $290.

Mortgage Interest Rates
30-Year Fixed-Rate	6.01%
15-Year Fixed-Rate	5.42%
1-Year ARM	4.05%
Housing Starts - May 2004*
Total	1.97 million
Single-Family Starts	1.64 million
Multifamily Starts	317,000
New Home Sales May 2004*	1.369 million
Existing Home Sales May 2004*	6.80 million
* Seasonally adjusted annual rate