Existing home sales declined 0.7% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.11 million, the National Association of Realtors reported today. Sales also fell 2.8% from a year ago. Total housing inventory in May was 1.28 million units, up 6.7% from the prior month. The median home price was $ 419,300, up 5.8% from the previous year and the highest price ever recorded.
Though the GOP sweep of the House and Senate portends good things for bank-friendly policy, there is still a lot of work to do on both sides of the aisle. Agriculture issues should see movement in new Congress.
The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.78% this week. The rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 5.99%.
The Federal Open Market Committee can take its time lowering rates given the strength of the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said.
Credit and debit card payments continued to grow in 2022, reaching 153.3 billion transactions and $9.76 trillion in value, according to Federal Reserve data, which also showed strong growth in mobile wallet payments.
The Mission Driven Bank Fund announced the appointment of its inaugural Mission Advisory Committee, comprised of seven industry leaders with expertise and experience in minority depository institutions and community development financial institutions.
FinCEN issued an alert with recommendations for financial institutions on how to detect deepfake identity frauds created using generative AI, with the agency saying it has seen an uptick in suspicious activity related to the technology.
