Housing Snapshot - August 23, 2004 - 8/23/2004 - Mortgage Loan Refinance Debt Equity

Housing Snapshot - August 23, 2004

Mortgage interest rates continued to soften slightly last week as the financial markets attempted to make sense of recent statistics providing both good and bad news for the nation's economy. Oil prices, climbing close to $50 a barrel, provided cause for concern. Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Roach cautioned that the nation will lapse back into recession if oil prices remain at that level for the next three to six months, although nobody is predicting that they will. Also in the negative column, the Conference Board reported last week that its composite index of leading economic indicators was down 0.3% in July, following a 0.1% drop in June. Good news came from the Consumer Price Index, which was down in July, and the Federal Reserve's report of output from factories, mines and utilities, which was up. The best news of all came from housing starts, which were just under the 2 million annual level last month. Developments on the lumber price front last week continued in the negative direction for home builders, although the cost of framing lumber declined by $1 to $473 per 1,000 board feet, according to Random Lengths. The price of 15/32-inch 3-ply southern (west-east) exterior sheathing continued to rise, reaching $435 per 1,000 board feet, up $30 from the previous week. Oriented strand board rose $10, to $395. The price declines in those building staples of earlier this summer are becoming an increasingly distant memory.