Housing Snapshot
With mortgage interest rates declining for the third straight week, almost touching the 40-year low they reached in March, housing remains a bright spot for the economy. On the darker side, the Commerce Department reported that manufacturers jettisoned 95,000 jobs in April and the nation's unemployment rate climbed to 6%. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress that he is expecting economic growth to increase in the second half of the year, but it is still not entirely clear how much the business sector will do to make this happen. [ MORE ]
Mortgage Interest Rates
30-Year Fixed-Rate: 5.70%
15-Year Fixed-Rate: 5.03%
1-Year ARM: 3.74%
Housing Starts - Mar. 2003*
Total: 1.78 million
Single-Family Starts: 1.41 million
Multifamily Starts: 366,000
New Home Sales Mar. 2003*
1.01 million
Existing Home Sales Mar. 2003*
5.53 million
* Seasonally adjusted annual rate