Has The Housing Market Hit Bottom?

Mortgage rates moved very little last week, even with the release of the first quarter’s GDP and a
meeting of the Federal Reserve. As expected, the rate of economic growth in the US slowed during
the first quarter to 2.2%. While this rate is often considered a healthy rate, it is nowhere near high
enough to help reduce the nation’s employment issues. On a positive note, however, a sub-indicator
in the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index revealed that consumers believe jobs are
getting easier to find. The Fed’s policy announcement provided little new insight to the Fed’s thinking or future policy, but as is always the case, it left itself open to act when and if needed.
This week is a busy week for financial markets. Dominating the week’s data will be the ISM reports
and the monthly employment report. With signs that manufacturing is beginning to slow, a dip in the
ISM reports will help hold mortgage rates low. If more than 200K jobs were created last month, we
could see rates moving upward. Otherwise, rates may remain stable again for the week.

The Housing Market Has Hit Bottom?

"The crash is over," stated Mark Zandi, respected chief
economist for Moody's Analytics in an interview with
Bloomberg last week. While definitions of what characterize
the end of the housing market crisis vary widely, more and
more economists are predicting that we have finally reached
the bottom. While many are expecting sales volumes to pick
up, and inventories to dwindle, very few experts are
expecting prices to move significantly higher for many years.

If you are in the market to buy or sell your Houston Home please give us a call at 281-326-HOME or visit our website at www.davidthelocator.com. Have a great day and we look forward to assisting you with your purchasing and selling goals!