The Day at a Glance | November 28 2023

*High interest rates took their toll on home sales in the US during October. 

*The Federal Reserve of Dallas´s manufacturing index, which measures activity in the state of Texas, recorded deterioration for a third consecutive month, reaching -19.9 points, its lowest level since July.

*The ceasefire in the Middle East was extended for two more days. Thus, Hamas will release 10 hostages each of these days in exchange for the release of detained Palestinians. So far, Hamas has released 69 hostages, while Israel has freed 150 Palestinian prisoners. However, it´s estimated that another 173 people remain captive in Gaza.

*On the other hand, the US government has urged Israel to exercise greater caution in protecting civilians and limiting damage to infrastructure during its offensive strategy in southern Gaza.

Economic environment

The sale of new single-family homes in the US dropped by 5.6% m/m in October. This change represents 679 thousand houses in said month, compared to 723 thousand in September, which was also revised down from the originally reported 759 thousand. The adverse performance logged in October is attributed to high interest rates that prevail in the US. As a result, the 30-year mortgage rate in the reached a nearly 23-year high at 7.79% by the end of October, limiting the average buyer’s housing acquisition capacity, despite prices having decreased over the past year to $409,300 (median) from $496,800 in 2022. Lastly, it´s noteworthy that at the end of October, there were 439 thousand homes available for sale in the American real-estate market, representing 7.8 months of supply at the current sales rate.