Photo Source: Home Bunch

Mortgage Applications for last week fell 4.6% overall with both purchases and refinances posting declines.

The FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) Housing Price Index, referring to single-family housing, was up 0.7% in August, beating expectations.

Pending Home Sales fell flat in September, missing expectations of a 0.4% gain. However, let’s note the report wasn’t as negative as Diana Olick may have exaggerated and housing is showing some strength with demand still high and in the wake of recent natural disasters in the South. Pending Home Sales rose in the Midwest, the West, and the Northeast but were down in the South. This shouldn’t come as a total shock.

Before the Pending Home Sales report was released this morning, New Home Sales report was released yesterday and beat expectations with a 18.9% increase in September—a ten-year high!—with widespread growth in sales across all regions. Of course, Diana Olick had nothing to say about this strong report.

According to an NAR (National Association of Realtors) survey, 20% of all sellers offered some sort of incentive to buyers, such as covering closing costs or completing a remodeling project, among others. Going forth, realtors showed confidence in buyer and seller traffic and expected mortgage conditions to improve. The No. 1 concern holding housing back: low inventory.

Initial Jobless Claims for last week were reported at 233K.