Housing Snapshot
Mortgage interest rates receded last week. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan reported to the Congress that prospects for growth look good, conceding that businesses need to be creating more jobs and indicating that the Fed will wait to see improvement before it moves to boost interest rates. The size of the federal deficit, which the Administration expects to weigh in at a hefty $521 billion this year, needs to be reined in, however, or it could start having an adverse impact on rates, even over the short term, Greenspan warned. His remarks apparently provided reassurance to the financial markets. An index by the University of Michigan suggested that consumer confidence was unraveling during the first half of this month. And lumber prices continued to trend upward last week. Random Lengths reported that the price of framing lumber was $374 per 1,000 board feet, $18 higher than the prior week. The mill price for 15/32-inch 3-ply CDX Southern Westside plywood was up $30 to $465 per 1,000 square feet, up from $244 a year earlier; and oriented strand board jumped $30 to $470, compared to $197 at the same point in 2003. [ MORE ]
Mortgage Interest Rates
30-Year Fixed-Rate: 5.66%
15-Year Fixed-Rate: 4.96%
1-Year ARM: 3.57%
Housing Starts - Dec. 2003*
Total: 2.088 million
Single-Family Starts: 1.664 million
Multifamily Starts: 397,000
New Home Sales Dec. 2003*
1.060 million
Existing Home Sales Dec. 2003*
6.47 million
* Seasonally adjusted annual rate