Most Affordable Places to Get Married and Buy a Home in the Same Year

Two of the most expensive life events (a wedding and a down payment on a home) often combine in the same year when a couple says “I Do”.  Redfin examined data to see which metropolitan areas had the lowest combined cost for an average wedding and the average purchase of a home in that area.

Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh are the most affordable places where couples can throw a wedding and also cover a down payment on their first home, in all three Midwestern metro areas, the average combined cost of a wedding and a down payment is less than $65,000, compared with the national average of more than $109,000. 

San Francisco, where the typical wedding and down payment costs add up to $325,000, is the most expensive place to get married and buy a home, followed by Los Angeles($168,000) and New York($158,000). 

To determine how much cash couples in different parts of the country would need on hand to throw a wedding and buy their first home, Redfin calculated down payment amounts in 25 metro areas, assuming a 20 percent down payment on the median list price as of April 2019. Redfin paired it with metro-level and national data on wedding costs from WeddingWire, which found the average cost of a wedding, including an engagement ring, ceremony and reception, and honeymoon to be $38,700 in 2018. 

Source: RedFin

What Happened to Rates Last Week?

Mortgage backed securities (FNMA 3.500 MBS) gained just +8 basis points (BPS) from last Friday’s close which caused fixed mortgage rates to move sideways but remained at their lowest levels of the year.

Overview:  We had a holiday-shortened week with really only three full trading sessions.  MBS remained at elevated levels but saw a significant pull back from their weekly highs due to a very strong jobs report on Friday.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Big Jobs Friday hit and the data was quite strong.  You can read the official Bureau of Labor and Statics report here.
Tale of the Tape:
Jobs:
Non-Farm Payrolls for June 224K vs est of 160K
NFP for May revised from 75K to 72K
NFP for April revised from 224K to 216K
The more closely watched three month rolling average is at a very healthy level of 171,000
Wages:
The Average Hourly Earnings rate rose 6 cents to $27.90 per hour.
Average Hourly Earnings on a YOY basis increased by 3.1% which matched May’s pace.  The expectations were for a pace of 3.2%.
Average Hourly Earnings on a MOM basis increased by 0.2%, the market was expecting 0.3%
Unemployment:
The Unemployment Rate rose from 3.6% in May to 3.7% in June. The market expected 3.6%
The Labor Force Participation Rate increased from 62.8% in May to 62.9% in June.

ISM:  The June ISM Non-Manufacturing (Services) hit close to the mark with a 55.1 vs 55.9 estimate.  This is the lowest reading since July of 2017 but is still well above the expansionary level of 50.0. Services account for  more than 2/3 of our economic output.  ISM Manufacturing on a national level is alive and well.  Unlike several recent regional manufacturing surveys (Chicago PMI, Empire Manufacturing, Philly Fed, etc), the ISM Manufacturing report still shows expansion with a 51.7 vs a 51.0 estimate.

What to Watch Out For This Week:

The above are the major economic reports that will hit the market this week. They each have the ability to affect the pricing of Mortgage Backed Securities and therefore, interest rates for Government and Conventional mortgages. I will be watching these reports closely for you and let you know if there are any big surprises.

It is virtually impossible for you to keep track of what is going on with the economy and other events that can impact the housing and mortgage markets.  Just leave it to me, I monitor the live trading of Mortgage Backed Securities which are the only thing government and conventional mortgage rates are based upon.