Stock markets – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 44,296.51, up 2% from 43,444.99 last week. It is up 17.5% year-to-date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 5,969.34, up 1.7% from 5,870.62 last week. The S&P is up 25.2% year-to-date. The Nasdaq closed the week at 19,003.65, up 1.7% from 18,680.12 last week. It is up 26.6% year-to-date.
U.S. Treasury bond yields – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 4.41%, almost unchanged from 4.43% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 4.60%, unchanged from 4.60% last week. We watch bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields.
Mortgage rates – Every Thursday Freddie Mac publishes interest rates based on a survey of mortgage lenders throughout the week. The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that mortgage rates for the most popular loan products as of November 21st, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.84%, up from 6.78% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.02%, up from 5.99% last week.
The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.
Home sales data is released on the third week of the month for the previous month by the California Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. These are October’s home sales figures.
U.S. existing-home sales October 2024 – The National Association of Realtorsreported that existing-home sales totaled 3.96 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate in October, up 2.9% from an annualized rate of 3.85 million units last October. That marked the first year-over-year increase in sales in 3 years. The median price for a home sold in the U.S. in October was $407,200, up 4% from $391,600 one year ago. There was a 4.2-month supply of homes for sale in October, up from a 3.6-month supply one year ago. First-time buyers accounted for 27% of all sales. Investors and second-home purchases accounted for 17% of all sales. All cash purchases accounted for 27% of all sales. Foreclosures and short salesaccounted for 2% of all sales.
October California existing-home sales report – The California Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales totaled 264,870 on an annualized rate in October, up 4.7% from 253,010 homes on an annualized rate in September, and up 5.8% from a revised 241,910 homes sold on an annualized basis last October. The statewide median price paid for a home in October was $888,740, up 2.4% from $868,150 in September, and up 5.8% from $839.990 one year ago. There was a 3.1- month supply of homes for sale in October, down from a 3.6-month supply of homes for sale in September, but up from a 2.7-month supply in October 2023.
The graph below lists home sales data by county in Southern California.
Have a great weekend!