Reasonable quarter from JPMorgan (JPM) this morning. Read more from our bank reporter David Hollerith.
I jumped on JPM’s earnings media call and asked CFO Jeremy Barnum for his thoughts on the housing market following the Fed’s rate cut. Overall, it didn’t seem like a housing boom was happening due to lower rates, but activity did increase.
Here’s what Barnum told me (emphasis ours):
“What we have seen, as you would expect, is an increase in mortgage applications and a small increase in refinancing, which is also what you would expect. But it is worth noting that, when it comes to mortgages, all consecutive and year-on-year changes come from a very low level, and it remains the case that the vast majority of mortgages outstanding at this time in this period are countries below 6%, while many of them are even below 5%.
So it would take a very large rally at the long end of the yield curve to see a significant improvement in refinancing. The housing view on house prices, you know, I think generally there’s a tension between a potentially slightly weakening economy that should create a little bit more supply, there’s a little bit more building going on, but there’s generally a housing shortage in this sector. country. So the housing market still seems to me to be a bit stuck, I would say.”
