Housing Snapshot - January 24, 2005 - 1/24/2005 - Mortgage Loan Refinance Debt Equity

Housing Snapshot - January 24, 2005

Mortgage interest rates on 30- and 15-year fixed loans declined slightly last week, while the cost of adjustable financing remained virtually unchanged. "Financial markets see inflation as being well managed by the Fed, and that allows long-term interest rates to remain low, with mortgage rates even falling a little more this week," said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. "With housing starts in December near record levels and November's starts revised upward, the housing industry looks like it will remain vibrant in 2005." Signals on the health of the nation's general economy remained healthy last week. The Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators was up in December, and revised upward in November, ending a five-month downward streak that started last May. The Labor Department reported that the Producer Price Index was down 0.7% in December, with gasoline and other energy prices dropping by 4%. The inflation index registered 4.1% for all of 2004. And the Federal Reserve reported that manufacturing production was up 0.7% in December, bringing the increase for the year to 4.1%, the best showing since 2000. Prices on the lumber front were a mixed bag. The cost of framing lumber climbed from $377 per 1,000 board feet on Jan. 14 to $382 at the end of last week, compared to $344 a year earlier, according to Random Lengths. The momentum behind plywood and oriented strand board prices appeared to be moving in the opposite direction, with the panel composite price moving down from $408 to $396 per 1,000 square feet. It was $439 a year earlier.