Lower Mortgage Rate helps the Housing Data

The housing data released this week reflected improvement. With the help of lower mortgage rates; April Existing Home Sales posted the first monthly increase this year, while April New Home Sales increased 7% from upwardly revised March figures. One factor holding back the pace of home sales activity over the last few months has been a lack of inventory, and the news on this front was also positive. Total inventory of existing homes available for sale jumped 17% from March to a 5.9-month supply.

Current mortgage rate (as of 05/24/2014) is the best rate since October 2013.