- Mortgage rates continued their downward trend, declining another six basis points last week, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey released September 4th. As mortgage rates continue to trend down, optimism increases for new buyers and current owners alike. As rates continue to drop, the number of homeowners who can refinance is expanding. In fact, the share of market mortgage applications that were for a refinance reached nearly 47%, the highest since last October.
- Mortgage applications decreased 1.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 29th. “Mortgage rates declined last week, with the 30-year fixed rate decreasing to its lowest level since April. However, that was not enough to spark more application activity,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Refinance applications saw a small increase from the previous week, driven by FHA and VA refinance applications, but conventional refinances declined. The FHA rate is averaging about 30 basis points lower than the conventional rate in 2025, which has made those loans relatively more appealing to eligible borrowers. Purchase activity pulled back, after a four-week run of increases, as slower homebuying activity led to declines in applications across the various loan types.”
- The personal consumption expenditures price index showed that core inflation ran at a 2.9% seasonally adjusted annual rate in July, meeting estimates but higher than June. Consumer spending increased 0.5% on the month, in line with forecasts and indicative of strength despite the higher prices. Personal income accelerated 0.4%. Inflation numbers were held in check by a 2.7% annual decline in prices for energy goods and services. Food prices rose 1.9% from a year ago. The balance also tilted heavily toward services prices, which jumped 3.6%, compared with just a 0.5% increase in goods. Central bankers target inflation at 2%, so Friday’s report shows the economy still a distance from where the Fed feels comfortable. Nevertheless, markets expect the Fed to resume lowering its benchmark interest rate when policymakers convene next month. Fed Governor Christopher Waller reiterated his support for a cut in a speech Thursday, saying he would entertain a larger move if labor market data continued to weaken.
- U.S. manufacturing contracted for a sixth straight month in August as factories dealt with the fallout from the Trump administration’s import tariffs, with some manufacturers describing the current business environment as “much worse than the Great Recession.” The Institute for Supply Management survey on Tuesday also showed some manufacturers complaining that the sweeping import duties were making it difficult to manufacture goods in the United States. President Donald Trump has defended his protectionist trade policy, which has raised the nation’s average tariff rate to the highest in a century, as necessary to revive a long-declining U.S. industrial base. “I continue to see the broad economy generally and the manufacturing sector in particular as in a holding pattern until tariff-related uncertainty recedes,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets.
