Pueblo County Median Selling Prices Down from Previous Month

 

For the first three indicators above, the number of homes for sale, months of inventory and list to sold price remained steady from previous month.

In August the number of homes sold were 250 in Pueblo County and in September 2023 there were only 213 homes sold, in comparison there were 257 homes sold in September of 2022. Year to date home sales in Pueblo County are down 22.7% down from the previous year and down 13.2% from the previous month.

In August of 2023 the median selling price of homes was at $330,500, for the month of September 2023 the median selling price was $306,600. That represents a 7.3% drop from the previous month.

New Housing Starts Bounce Back in September

 

The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,358,000, which is 7% higher than August’s revised number but is 7.2% lower than one year ago.  September’s rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 383k.  Privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,541,000, which is 4,4% lower than August’s revised number and is 7.2% lower than one year ago.  Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 459k in September.

Click here to read the full report at the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

Mortgage Applications plummet to lowest level since May 1995

 

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly index of mortgage application activity fell 6.9% in the week ending 10/13/23 to 166.9, the lowest since May, 1995.  The report showed applications for home loans fell 5.6% to the lowest point since February 1995 and applications for refinancing fell 9.9%.

“The volume of U.S. mortgage applications plummeted to the lowest in nearly three decades last week as the interest rate on the most popular type of home loan rose for a sixth straight week to the highest since 2000, the latest data to point to no near-term relief for the slumping housing market.”

Read the full article U.S. mortgage application flow plunges to lowest since 1995 | Reuters

Mortgage rates reach their highest since 2000

While the anticipation was for mortgage rates to recede in 2023, that wasn’t the case. Throughout this year, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate fluctuated within the range of 6% to 7%. At the outset of September, mortgage rates stood just above 7%, but by early October they had climbed to the mid-7% range, as reported by Freddie Mac. This marked the highest rate recorded since the year 2000.

While the Federal Reserve opted to temporarily forgo a rate increase in September, it continues to deliberate the possibility of a rate hike during its upcoming late-October meeting. If the economic data substantiates the need for another increase, it is highly likely that we will see such a course of action.