Mortgage Trends, Update, Readings: Home Builder Confidence Decreased By A Point, Housing Starts Increased, Mortgage Rates Increased

According to reliable reports, home builder confidence slipped by a point compared to its expected reading and November reading. The current home builder confidence reading is 61. Despite the slip, it is worth noting that readings above 50 means that more builders are confident about the housing market conditions, and December's reading is still higher than the average reading of the year which is 59.

Furthermore, builder confidence in the present market conditions fell by a point to a final reading of 66. The 6 month sales outlook also fell by two points to a final reading of 67. Also, the buyer foot traffic in new developments has a final reading of 46 which is also 2 points lower than the previous reading. The buyer foot traffic has actually remained below the neutral figure of 50 ever since the end of housing bubble.

Housing Starts rose in the month of November with 1.17 million reading. The expected figures was 1.14 million and it is based on October's 1.06 million Starts. On a related note, 2015 has seen an acceleration in the demand for homes and it is actually caused by slim inventories for home availability. New constructions are considered as an important factor in easing the demand.

Furthermore, Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has already raised its target funds rate to a 0.25% - 0.50% range from a 0% - 0.25% range. This increase is expected to have an affect on mortgage rates, and as per Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage is now 3.95% which is 2 points higher than the previous reading. The 15 year fixed rate mortgage also increased its average rate to 3.22%, which shows a three point increase. 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage has an unchanged average rate which is 3.03%. Fixed rate mortgage discount points were also unchanged while the average points for 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage went through a drop and is now at an average rate of 0.40%

Jobless claims has seen a fall from the 275,000 expectation and 282,000 reading from last week.. The final reading is 271,000.