Capital Markets, Job Movement, CPI Takeaways; Mortgage Rate Surveys

With most mortgage related headlines focused on rates being back above 6 percent for the first time since 2008, it makes sense that 67 percent of millennials and Gen Zers who moved back home during the pandemic still live there. Lending Tree surveyed more than 1,300 U.S. parents and/or generation Zers/millennials to get their thoughts on pandemic parent-living arrangements and found that 85 percent of parents would let their children move back in as adults or have previously done so, and most (73 percent) wouldn’t charge them rent. That sounds “pretty sweet” as higher mortgage rates combined with still-high home prices are making it challenging for homebuyers as we head into what historically has been the best time of the year to find a home. According to economist Elliot Eisenberg, Ph.D., asking rents rose 0.4 percent in August this year. While that is historically very high (pre-Covid, rent hikes in August were about 0.2 percent), that figure is way down from the 1.9 percent rise in August of 2021. And home is a trendy place to be. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of people primarily working from home in the U.S. tripled from 5.7 percent (roughly 9 million people) to 17.9 percent (27.6 million people), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly half (48.3%) of workers in the District of Columbia worked from home, the highest percentage of home-based workers among states and state equivalents in 2021. Lots of MLOs are looking for economic information to pass along to their clients, and today at 3PM ET is the next edition of The Mortgage Collaborative’s Rundown with Rich and Robbie Chrisman. Today’s guest is Moody’s Mark Zandi, and the discussion will focus on the economy and the mortgage market for 45 minutes. Register at “The Rundown with Rich and Rob”! (Available here, this week’s podcast is sponsored by SimpleNexus an nCino company and award-winning developer of mobile-first technology for the modern mortgage lender.)