For the first time in 12 weeks, home borrowing costs declined, reports the MBA. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell six basis points to 4.09% with 0.44 in points for the week ending March 4. Within the data it showed that the Market Composite Index rose 8.5%, the Refinance Index increased 8.5% and the Purchase Index gained 8.6%. An MBA spokesperson said, "Looking ahead, the potential for higher inflation amidst disruptions in oil and other commodity flows will likely lead to a period of volatility in rates as these effects work against each other."

Fannie Mae recently released a paper asking what are the biggest costs of homeownership. Here are the findings. The largest contributors to housing costs are consistently non-mortgage ongoing costs, which collectively are about half of total borrower costs over the ownership period. The largest non-mortgage expenses for all borrowers are utilities, property taxes, and home improvement expenses. Transaction costs at purchase and sale comprise roughly 20% of total costs, with the broker fees at sale standing out as the largest such expense. The typical mortgage accounts for roughly 30% of total cost of housing over a typical seven-year homeownership cycle. Guaranty fees comprise approximately 4% of the total cost of homeownership. Private mortgage insurance is also a small component of costs, ranging from 1% to 3% of total costs.

Job openings across the nation remained elevated in January reports the Labor Department in its JOLTS data. There were 11.3 million open positions on the last business day of January. That is nearly 5 million more than the number of available workers. Those quitting jobs in January were 4.3 million, down from the record 4.5 million recorded in November 2021. Finding qualified workers to fill positions has become a major project for small, medium and large-sized companies.