Quicken Loans' Bob Walters On The Housing Market Pre- And Post-Fed Rate Increase

• Bob Walters was a guest on Friday's edition of #PreMarket Prep, where he talked about the economy, the stock market and the housing market. Tune in to PreMarket Prep live every Monday-Friday from 8-9:30 a.m. ET here for trading ideas and analysis from Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick.

Walters, chief economist and vice president of the Capital Markets Group for Quicken Loans Inc., spoke with Benzinga about the housing market following the Fed's highly anticipated interest rate increase.

At the end of 2015, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates and analysts are expecting several further increases over the next year or two. Taking into account that Walters constantly deals with people buying houses and getting loans, Elconin asked the state of the housing market specifically within the overall economy.

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Interestingly, Walters assured the economy is expanding, even though the past couple of weeks have been terrible for the stock market. “You’ve got interest rates flowing, at least long term interest rates flowing, so mortgage rates are getting more attractive,” he explained.

Low gas prices are also putting substantial amounts of money into people’s pockets, the expert continued. In addition, unemployment is down to around 5 percent.

So, are we in boom times? Walters asked rhetorically. Well, not necessarily, he responded.

"But things are doing well," Walters elaborated, "So, it’s really kind of a dichotomy between a stock market that right now, selling off pretty hard, and actually some pretty good undercurrents for the economy and certainly for the housing market.”

Ahead Of The Rate Hike

Elconin then questioned Walters about what happened with mortgages before the hike.

There was a rush of applications before rates went up, Walters said. “Every time that the Fed’s on the news, especially this time given that the last time the Fed had actually increased interest rates was –I believe- 8 or 9 years ago. So, it was news that got into the popular press, beyond the financial press [...] So, the average person, who had been thinking about refinancing or maybe was on the bubble to buy a house, they reaching out, coming into the market. So, we did see a bit of a rush.”

He continued, “We tried to talk to people and explain to people that there is a huge difference between what is going on with Fed funds and long term interest rates,” which do not necessarily move together.

Check out the full interview below.

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.

Image Credit: Public Domain