Mortgage
rates
kept
climbing
on
the
back
of
a
string
of
market-moving
news.
Notably,


Federal
Reserve
Chair
Jerome
Powell
said
last
week
at
the

Washington
Forum
that
there
will
be
no
rate
cuts
anytime
soon
because
of
the
strength
of
the
U.S.
economy. 

As
a
result,

HousingWire’s
Mortgage
Rates
Center
showed
the
average
30-year
fixed
rate
for
conventional
loans
at
7.48%
on
Tuesday,
up
from
7.26%
one
week
earlier.
At
the
same
time
one
year
ago,
the
30-year
fixed
rate
averaged
6.54%.
Meanwhile,
the
15-year
fixed
rate
averaged
6.72%
on
Tuesday,
up
from
6.66%
one
week
earlier.

“I
always
believe
that
with
higher
rates,
inventory
should
grow
more;
last
week
was
the
first
week
where
I
hit
my
target
weekly
inventory
growth
model
that
I
set
out
for
myself
last
year
if
rates
got
above
7.25%,”

HousingWire
lead
analyst
Logan
Mohtashami
said.
“Last
year,
it
never
happened
once,
even
with
rates
heading
toward
8%,
but
this
year,
we
have
more
sellers
than
last
year.
If
rates
go
higher,
it
will
impact
sales,
but
I
am
hoping
it
doesn’t
prevent
more
sellers
coming
into
the
marketplace”

Even
after
several 
weeks
of
mortgage
rate
increases,
the
housing
market
remains
strong.
For
instance,
the
demand
for

new
homes
grew
at
an
annualized
sales
rate
of
8.8%
from
February
to
March.
As
of
April
19,
there
were
543,000
single-family
homes
on
the
market,
up
3%
from
the
week
prior
and
31%
above
year-ago
levels.
There
are
130,000
more
homes
on
the
market
now
compared
to last
year
at
this
time. 

“The
available
inventory
of
unsold
homes
on
the
market
is
building
quickly
due
to
the
most
recent
mortgage
rate
jumps,”
Mike
Simonsen,
founder
and
president
of


Altos
Research,
wrote
on

Monday.

One
of
the
positive
pieces
of
news
about
mortgage
rates
is
that
the
spread
between
mortgage
rates
and
the
10-year
Treasury
yield
is
narrowing,
Mohtashami
noted
on

Saturday. 

The
Personal
Consumption
Expenditures
Price
Index
(PCE)
for
March
will
be
released
on
Friday,
providing
valuable
insights
into
the
Fed’s
next
steps
regarding
benchmark
interest
rates. 

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