Homebuyer demand for mortgages jumped 6%, as interest rates fell to the lowest level in over a month

Mortgage data out a short time ago and Diana Olek joins us now with more, Diana. Good morning, Joe. Yeah, potential homebuyers are responding to the lowest mortgage rates in over a month as well as higher supply of homes for sale. While the numbers are still really low, applications for a mortgage to buy a home jumped 6% last week compared with the previous week, and that was to the highest level since January of this year. That, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Seasonally Adjusted Index, they were 21% lower than the same week a year ago, but there may be some noise in that annual comparison because Thanksgiving fell on a different week last year than this year, so it's all kind of a mess. Now, the average rate on the 30-year fix for conforming loan balances dropped to 6.69% from 6.86%, and that's for loans with 20% down. Applications to refinance a home loan fell 1% for the week and were 7% lower than the same week a year ago. Most borrowers today have loans with much lower rates, more like the 3% and 4% range that are being offered today, so you're really not going to do much better. Conventional refinance applications dropped despite the lower rates, but FHA and VA refides rebounded from the week before. FHA and VA loans generally go to lower-income borrowers who might have had a much higher rate due to credit issues. Now, investors were weighing the geopolitical headlines in France and South Korea against some positive commentary on the economy from various Fed speakers on Tuesday. Today, of course, more economic data, ADP, jobs, ISM, as well as Fed Chairman Powell speaking, of course, at DealBook this afternoon, so we'll be listening to all that. Joe? Well, maybe Andrew will just ask him, you know, how many more cuts, are you cutting at the next meeting, and maybe he'll answer. Maybe, you know? Maybe. You can wish. It is Christmas time. Yeah. Remember when Andrew asked Elon Musk about whether he cared about advertisers and stuff? I mean, that's a format where sometimes they just answer it. Diana, is there something going on globally in housing that's really scary? I've just seen some data lately. Have things fallen off a cliff in some places? Well, the problem is home prices inflated, and they inflated everywhere, whether it's New York or London. You had these record low mortgage rates during the pandemic that fueled all this buying, which pushed home prices up so high that now you have a bubble. And the big question maybe you should ask him today is, is that bubble going to burst? Are we concerned about this bubble in home prices really coming down because we have no supply still? We have very high prices. And even though I said that mortgage rates came down, they didn't come down that much.