Mortgage rates remained steady last week, finishing the week slightly lower than they started, as fallout from the Brexit vote continued to keep rates low despite a rebound in equity markets.

The week ahead will continue to focus on overseas economies as negative yields in many countries’ bond markets have increased demand for U.S. Treasuries. The shortened holiday week will have several economic releases for markets to digest, with the all-important Employment report being the main event on Friday. Fed Funds futures are currently trading at just a 2% chance of an increase through the next three meetings. With slowing growth in Europe likely to hurt growth in the U.S., the chance of a Fed rate increase this year is becoming increasingly unlikely.

Economic Calendar for the week of 07/05/2016 to 07/08/2016:

Tuesday: Factory Orders, Durable Goods Orders

Wednesday: Trade Balance, ISM Non-Manufacturing, MBA Mortgage Applications, FOMC meeting minutes

Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims, Continuing Claims, ADP Employment Change

Friday: Non-Farm Payrolls/Unemployment Rate

Over the last 30 days, the Chandler market looked healthy with 491 homes sold. Within the same time frame, Phoenix had 2,206 sales, the most of all cities in the area. Prices are falling in Chandler, and this period the median price of all sales fell from $280,000 to $273,500. Along with the increase in sales, the fact that there are a lower-than-normal three months of inventory indicates that Chandler is a seller's market.

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTS ABOUT CHANDLER:

• The percentage of the population who own their homes is 61.0%.
• For every teacher there are 19.5 students in this area. (15.3 = national average)

Last week mortgage rates rose early in the week as traders began to feel confident that Britain would vote to remain in the EU. On Friday everything reversed in dramatic fashion as Britain shocked the markets by voting to leave the EU and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will be resigning. Mortgage rates suddenly fell while investors pulled money out of equities and commodities and fled to the security of bonds. The DJIA and the S&P saw their largest declines since last August.

Although the vote on Brexit is behind us, Brexit will likely dominate the week. The European Union has rules in place governing a nation exiting, but they have never before been tested and it adds additional uncertainty when the first test is an economy as large as that of the UK. Politics will continue to drive the agenda in the UK. At present, significant uncertainty remains about the leadership of both the government (Conservative party) and opposition (Labour) after the majority of the shadow cabinet of the latter resigned on Sunday. In Europe, the EU nations will struggle with how to avoid calls for other nations to leave the EU.

The 85249 zip code market saw sales remain flat this week with 133 homes sold over the last 30 days, while new listings rose to 123. The median sales price climbed to $339,000 over the latest reporting period for the 85249 zip code, up from $328,672. Despite the flat sales, a relatively low three months of inventory remaining indicates that the 85249 zip code is a seller's market.

Make your voice heard. Update your voter registration or register to vote in Arizona’s upcoming Primary and General Elections. Arizona’s Primary Election will take place August 30, with the General Election to follow November 8. 

Unlike the Primary Preference Election, Arizona has an open primary law that allows any voter who is registered as independent to cast a ballot for one of the officially recognized political parties. If you are registered with a recognized party, you will only be able to vote with that party’s ballot in the Primary Election, therefore you may only vote for that party’s candidates.

You should update your voter information if:

• You recently moved to a new address
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• You would like to change your political party affiliation

For more information on the Primary and General Elections, including a list of candidates, visit AZSOS.gov. 

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