Mortgage Applications Decline 1.2 Percent From Previous Week (Purchase Index Decreased 6 Percent, Refinance Index Increased 1 Percent)

Bad, bad Jerome Powell.

Mortgage applications decreased 1.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 29, 2025.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 6 percent compared with the previous week and was 17 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index increased 1 percent from the previous week and was 20 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

Mortgage rates declined last week, with the 30-year fixed rate decreasing to its lowest level since April to 6.64 percent. However, that was not enough to spark more application activity. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($806,500 or less) decreased to 6.64 percent from 6.69 percent, with points decreasing to 0.59 from 0.60 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.

But don’t get your hopes up about The Fed saving the housing market.

US Manufacturing PMI Rises Dramatically To 53 In August, Strongest In Three Years (Chicago Crime Map, West Side Of Chicago Is The Baddest Part Of Town)

S&P Global’s US Manufacturing PMI rose dramatically from 49.8 in July to 53.0 in August (down very marginally from its preliminary print of 53.3) – the strongest in over three years.

On a different note, Chicago was in the news again for 54 shot, 7 killed in Chicago over the weekend. Crime is spreading, but most of the violent crime can be found in the Austin and Englewood neighborhoods. Although Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale and South Shore are no slouches.

The west side of Chicago is the baddest part of time. But as Jim Croce sang, the south side is pretty bad.

Q3 GDP Forecasts Soars To 3.5% (Equipment And Exports Lead The Way! Residential Investment Down -8.2)

So much for the defeatist mentality in the main stream media, Congress and economists!

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2025 is 3.5 percent on August 29, up from 2.2 percent on August 26. After recent releases from the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the nowcasts of third-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth and second-quarter real gross private domestic investment growth increased from 2.2 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, to 2.3 percent and 6.1 percent, while the nowcast of the contribution of net exports to third-quarter real GDP growth increased from -0.36 percentage points to 0.59 percentage points.

The breakdown? Equipment growth at 11.7 was the standout along with exports at 7.9%.

Residential investment is down -8.2. This isn’t helping!

Time to pop a cheap beer!

Financial Twilight Zone! Home Builder Stock Surges As Homebuilder Sentiment Slumps

I feel like we are in the financial Twilight Zone.

Home builder stock prices have surged, while home builder sentiment has plunged.

Of course, The Fed’s endless money printing isn’t helping the supply side of home building.

To make matters worse, pending home sales remain in the doldrums.

Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook is an embarrasment for committing mortgage fraud, then refusing to step down. And now she has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for wrongful termination. Typical of an Obama appointee!

US Home Prices Drop -0.25% MoM In June (New York And Chicago Biggest Gainers In Price, San Francisco And Tampa Biggest Losers)

Home prices in America’s 20 largest cities fell for the 4th straight month in June (the latest data available from S&P CoreLogic’s Case-Shiller data released this morning).

The -0.25% MoM drop was larger than expected and dragged the YoY price growth down to +2.15% – the weakest since July 2023.

Meanwhile The Federal Reserve keeps on printing money, helping to drive up home prices.

,Metro level? New York and Chicago lead, with Phoenix, Miami, Denver, San Diego, Dallas, San Francisco and Tampa all experiencing price declines.

On a side note, Chicago is even more unaffordable than last year. So much for Mayor Brandon Johnson saying there would be no crime if everyone could afford housing (one of the stupidest comments I have ever heard).

The stupidity is strong with this one!

New Home Sales at 652,000 Annual Rate in July (Median Price Declines -5.9% YoY Despite Fed Money Printing)

What do you do with The Federal Reserve who keep printing money?

According to the US Census Bureau, New Home Sales of new single-family houses in July 2025 were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 652,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This is 0.6 percent (±15.5 percent)* below the June 2025 rate of 656,000, and is 8.2 percent (±14.0 percent)* below the July 2024 rate of 710,000.

Median and Average Sales Price

The median sales price of new houses sold in July 2025 was $403,800. This is 0.8 percent (±5.9 percent)* below the June 2025 price of $407,200, and is 5.9 percent (±8.5 percent)* below the July 2024 price of $429,000. The average sales price of new houses sold in July 2025 was $487,300. This is 3.6 percent (±8.0 percent)* below the June 2025 price of $505,300, and is 5.0 percent (±8.6 percent)* below the July 2024 price of $513,200.

Here is a chart of median sales price of new homes against Fed money printing (M2).

Dazed And Confused? Existing Home Sales Rose 0.8% YoY In July, Median Existing Home Prices Up 0.2% From One Year Ago (And Why Fed Rate Cuts Won’t Matter)

The Federal Reserve is Dazed and Confused. Their money printing is making housing progressively more expensive and unaffordable.

Existing-home sales increased by a measley 2.0% in July, according to the National Association of REALTORS® Existing-Home Sales Report.

Month-over-month sales increased in the Northeast, South, and West, and fell in the Midwest. Year-over-year, sales rose in the South, Northeast, and Midwest, and fell in the West.

• 2.0% increase in existing-home sales – seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.01 million in July.

• Year-over-year: 0.8% increase in existing-home sales

Median existing-home price for all housing types, up 0.2% from one year ago ($421,400) – the 25th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.

It will be hard to make housing more affordable as long as The Fed keeps printing money.

Powell et al cutting rates 25 basis points won’t really matter as long as they continue to print money. Unfortunately, M2 VELOCITY peaked under the Clinton Administration and has declined since despite frantic money printing.

What happended in 1995? Clinton’s National Homeownership Strategy that mandated HUD partners (GNMA, FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, banks, etc.) to lower credit standards to encourage homeownership.

We need FHFA Director Bill Pulte to avoid doing what Democrats love (everything free or cheap).

Keep On Printing? Home Price Growth Linked To Fed Money Printing (Cleveland OH Is Fastest Growing City In Terms of Home Prices Tampa FL Fastest Declining)

Is This My Free One-Way Bus Ticket To Cleveland? Cleveland is leading the nation in home price growth at 4.7% YoY. Followed closely by Hartford CT, Louisville KY, Detroit MI and Buffalo NY.

Well, if The Fed would stop printing money (M2), home prices would decline. But The Fed will keep on printing!

Of course, the top 1% of net worth households are doing quite well thanks to The Fed’s eternal money printing.

On the commercial RE side, US office vacancy rates are approaching 20%.

Lastly, Tampa FL is the slowest growing area. Actually declining at a rate of -6.2% YoY.

Despite A Glut Of 1-Unit Homes For Sale (511k), 627k Units Built In June (Multifamily Starts Soar!)

Celebrate, dance to THEIR music. Housing construction is massively overregulated leading to a glut in unaffordable housing being built.

I mentioned the glut of new builds in my post yesterday. Construction remains over-regulated driving up the costs of new builds

As you can see, new single family homes for sale is 511,000. But single family homes under construction was 627,000 units in June.

Not surprisningly, housing completions were up in June, but generally down since late 2024.

Multifamily starts soared in June (red line).

Changeling! 511,000 New Homes For Sale In US, Highest Inventory Since October 2007 (Mortgage Rates About The Same As In 2007 But Home Prices Are 87.5% Higher Today Than In 2007!)

The US housing market is a changeling, going from a mega glut during the financial crisis to a tight market, then back to a glut … again. In fact, there are 511,000 new homes for sales in the US, the highest inventory since the financial crisis.

Combine all-time high home prices with RELATIVELY high mortgages, and we have an affordability crisis once again.

While we have the most new homes for sales since 2007, mortgage rates are about the same as in 2007 (orange line). But home prices are 87.5% higher today than in 2007!

When government gets involved, what could go wrong?