A client forwarded me an article that came from, Mike Kirby, the Branch Manager with Wells Fargo in Eagle, ID.  I was unable to find a direct link to the article, but I have pasted the information that was included.  Please keep in mind, these are national numbers.

·        Existing home sales rose 5.1% in March to 5.33 million units, following February’s 7.3% decline. The first-quarter average was 5.29 million units, 1.1% above the last year’s 5.23 million-unit sales rate. All data are shown as seasonally adjusted annual rates.1

·        The median price of existing homes sold in March was $222,700, 5.7% above the median price recorded in March 2014.1

·        Housing starts in the first quarter of 2016 virtually matched the pace set in the fourth quarter of 2015 at 1.133 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. That’s up 15.9% from the 978,000-unit rate set in the fourth quarter of 2014.2

·        At 792,000 units, starts on single-family homes in the first quarter were up 4.7% from the fourth quarter of 2015 and up 23.2% from a year earlier.2

·        The yield on 10-year Treasury securities, a leading guidepost for pricing mortgages, averaged 1.89% in March, down from 2.24% in December. Through the first 19 days of April, it’s averaged 1.76%. Last year, it averaged 2.14%, with June’s 2.36% being the highest monthly average in 2015.3

·        Industrial production slipped by 0.6% for the second consecutive month in March. The index, which measures output at the nation’s factories, mines, and electric and gas utilities, has fallen by 2.0% since March 2015 and has registered 13 monthly declines in the last 16 months.4

·        The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in March. In the past year, the index has climbed 0.9%. The core CPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy sectors, also grew 0.1% in March and is up 2.2% in the past year.5

·        The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in Freddie Mac’s survey was 3.59% during the week ending April 21, an increase of 1 basis point from the previous week. The March average was 3.69%. All rates quoted have fees and points averaging 0.5% to 0.7% of the loan amount.6

1. ?Existing-Home Sales Spring Ahead in March,? National Association of Realtors�, April 20, 2016. www.realtor.org/…/04/existing-home-sales-spring-ahead-in-ma…
2. ?New Residential Construction in March 2016,? Bureau of the Census, April 19, 2016. www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/newresconst_201603.pdf
3. ?Selected Interest Rates, (Daily) ? H.15,? 10-year Treasury constant maturity series. Data through April 19, 2016. www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/data.htm
4. ?Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization,? Release G.17, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, April 15, 2016. 
www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/Current/g17.pdf
5. ?Consumer Price Index ? March 2016,? Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 14, 2016 
www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_04142016.pdf
6. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, April 21, 2016. 
www.freddiemac.com/pmms/.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis Economic Data system (FRED) was used to collect historical data on nonfarm payroll employment, the unemployment rate, and the CPI. 

Keeping Current is produced by the Sales & Service Systems Office of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Tony Drost, President
First Rate Property Management, Inc.
Boise, Idaho
Contact me for more information about the Investment Real Estate and Property Rental markets in Boise and Idaho.