{"id":2228029,"date":"2024-04-23T10:53:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T14:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-home-sales-rose-8-8-in-march-despite-higher-mortgage-rates\/"},"modified":"2024-04-23T10:58:30","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T14:58:30","slug":"new-home-sales-rose-8-8-in-march-despite-higher-mortgage-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-home-sales-rose-8-8-in-march-despite-higher-mortgage-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite higher mortgage rates, new home sales increased by 8.8% in March"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-home-sales-rose-8-8-in-march-despite-higher-mortgage-rates%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2228029&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The \u200dsummary \u2064covers new home sales&#8217;\u2062 surprising\u200d rise despite\u200c escalating mortgage rates. Sales jumped by 8.8% in March to 693,000, marking an 8.3% yearly \u200dincrease. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/existing-home-sales-soar-as-buyers-panic-ahead-of-rate-hikes\/\" title=\"Existing Home Sales Soar as Buyers Panic Ahead of Rate Hikes\">median sales price<\/a> reached\u200c $430,700. The housing \u2064market&#8217;s\u200c complexity stems from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/airlines-should-help-families-sit-together-but-biden-doesnt-need-to-weigh-in\/\" title=\"Airlines should assist families with seating, no need for Biden's input\">record-low rates<\/a> \u2064spurring high demand,\u200c followed\u2064 by a shift as inflation and interest rates increased significantly. The summary \u200cdiscusses the unexpected increase in new home\u2064 sales despite\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/housing-starts-increase-as-housing-market-sends-mixed-signals\/\" title=\"Housing starts rise amidst conflicting housing market signals.\">rising\u200d mortgage rates<\/a>. In March, sales surged by 8.8% to 693,000, representing an annual increase of \u200c8.3%. The \u200bmedian \u200bsales price hit\u2064 $430,700.\u2063 The housing market&#8217;s intricacies arise from the\u2063 initial\u2063 high demand due to record-low rates,\u2063 followed by a shift with \u2064escalating inflation and interest rates.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>New home\u00a0sales\u00a0rose in March despite the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/housing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">housing<\/a> market feeling the effects of higher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/housing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mortgage rates<\/a>, which have recently inched even higher.<\/p>\n<p>New\u00a0home\u00a0sales increased 8.8% from February to 693,000, according to a Tuesday report from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/census-bureau\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Census Bureau<\/a>. The number of\u00a0new\u00a0home\u00a0sales is 8.3% higher than it was in March of last year, owing in part to dampened inventory of existing\u00a0homes.<\/p>\n<p>The median sales price for a\u00a0new\u00a0home\u00a0was $430,700 in March.<\/p>\n<p>The housing market is in a complicated spot right now. During the worst of the pandemic, the Federal Reserve cut its interest rate target to near-zero and mortgage rates plunged to ultra-low levels. At one point in early 2021, people were locking in 2.5% mortgages \u2014 the lowest level in post-war modern history.<\/p>\n<p>The low rates prompted a rash of homebuying and investment, generating a notable boost in home construction. But then, the dynamic began changing quickly when inflation rose and the Fed raised interest rates, pushing mortgage rates to the highest level since the turn of the century, with rates peaking at above 8%.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with recent hotter-than-expected inflation reports and the prospect of the Fed holding its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/job-openings-tick-up-very-slightly-despite-high-interest-rates\/\" title=\"Job opportunities increase marginally amid elevated interest rates\">interest rate target higher<\/a> for longer, mortgage rates are up again.<\/p>\n<p>As of Monday, the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 7.43%, according to <em>Mortgage News Daily<\/em>, which tracks daily changes in rates. That is a significant uptick from the end of December when investors were expecting up to six interest rate cuts in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>One of the side effects of that mortgage rate whiplash was that many homeowners who locked in those sub-3% pandemic-era mortgages have been holding off on selling, which has cut down the inventory of existing homes and created more demand for new homes \u2014 a phenomenon that caused home prices to keep rising alongside mortgage rates.<\/p>\n<p>Existing home sales in March fell 4.3% to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-home-prices-are-up-nearly-25-since-this-time-last-year\/\" title=\"Report: Home Prices Are Up Nearly 25% Since This Time Last Year\">seasonally adjusted annual rate<\/a> of 4.19 million, the biggest decline in over a year. The rate of existing home sales was down 3.7% from the year before.<\/p>\n<p>The Fed is trying to thread the needle of monetary policy. It wants to keep interest rates higher for longer now because of stickier inflation. Yet many investors and central bank-watchers fear that, if policy is too restrictive, the labor market will suffer and unemployment will rise.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fed Chairman Jerome Powell last week emphasized that the hotter-than-desired inflation prints over the past quarter have changed the Fed\u2019s calculus of when rate cuts might begin. Powell\u2019s remarks are an acknowledgement of a major shift in expectations from investors regarding interest rates recently.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it is likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence,\u201d Powell said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In March, new home sales surged despite the impact of rising mortgage rates. Sales spiked by 8.8% to 693,000, exceeding last year&#8217;s figures by 8.3%. The Census Bureau&#8217;s report highlights the housing market&#8217;s resilience amid limited existing home inventory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2683,"featured_media":2228030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/new-home-sales-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2228029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/new-home-sales-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2228030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}