November 2,2018-
Mortgage rates at 7-year high
Mortgage rates are above 5% this month being quoted at 5.12% on a 30-year conventional loan according to one industry blog. Rates move up in lock step with the rise in the10 year note that rose to over 3.2% today.
LIBOR posts biggest weekly jump since March
NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) – A key gauge on what banks charge each other to borrow three-month dollars registered its largest weekly increase since March on Friday, as rising U.S. government borrowing and a shrinking Federal Reserve balance sheet have raised private interest rates.
The London interbank offered rate to borrow three-month dollars climbed nearly 1.1 basis points to 2.59238 percent on Friday. This brought its weekly gain to 7.2 basis points, which was its largest weekly jump since the week of March 23 when it rose almost 9 basis points.Many financial institutions, mortgage lenders and credit card agencies set their own rates relative to it.
Sales Decline Hits California Housing Market
The California housing market posted its largest year-over-year sales decline since March 2014 and remained below the 400,000-level sales benchmark for the second consecutive month in September, indicating that the market is slowing as many potential buyers put their homeownership plans on hold, the California Assn of Realtors says.
Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 382,550 units in September, down 4.3 percent from the revised 399,600 level in August and down 12.4 percent compared with home sales in September 2017 of 436,920.
In our reading area SLO County saw a decline of 14.7% year over year while the median price rose to $639,000 from $607,000 a year ago.
In Tulare County sales were down 17.8% in September 2018 compared to a year earlier as the median price rose to $240,000 from $230,000 a year earlier.