US home sales depress on cold weather; 30-year fixed mortgage loans at 3.32%



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US home sales depress on cold weather; 30-year fixed mortgage loans at 3.32%
US home sales depress on cold weather; 30-year fixed mortgage loans at 3.32% (Provided by Financial World)

On Monday, US National Association of Realtors had unveiled in a report that US existing home sales tumbled to a nearly six-month low last month in context of a rare winter storm in Texas and a rare deep freeze across the country, while a squeezed supply line, higher home prices alongside a rising mortgage rate could damp down a rebound in US housing market, suggested analysts.

Nonetheless, despite a gloomier US home sales data in February as reported by the National Association of Realtor, the report published earlier in the day had also reflected a robust demand with houses hanging around in the market less than 20 days after having been listed.

However, although many analysts were blaming a severe winter weather behind a smothering of US existing home sales in February, rising long-term mortgage rates as cited by the US mortgage buyer Freddie Mac alongside an expected hike in house prices with supplies running low had heavily weighed on US housing market.

As of Monday, US 30-year fixed mortgage rates were hovering at 3.32 per cent, up from an average long-term home loan of 3.09 per cent last week, data from Freddie Mac had unveiled, while US 15-year fixed home loans stood at 2.52 per cent.

US home sales drop to lowest since late-August in February

Aside from that, according to National Association of Realtor’s report published earlier in the day, US existing home sales were slumped by 6.6 per cent to a seasonally adjusted 6.22 million units last month, a level never seen since August 2020, while Northeast, South and Midwest parts of the United States had led the declines, though house sales ramped up in the western part last month.

Meanwhile, referring to a higher US house prices alongside a rising mortgage rate, an economist at JPMorgan in New York, Daniel Silver wrote in a client note followed by the announcement, “Severe winter weather depressed sales in February.

But pending home sales already had been trending lower before the bad weather; existing home sales also are cooling off following a robust run due to some other factors apart from the weather”.