Portland Mortgage Market Update — May 8, 2026

Here is this week's update, sorry for the delay I just had a hard time getting this put together!!

I hope you are having a great week! Here is this week's market update

The Iran War dominated the market again this week with optimism brewing Wednesday upon the announcement of a potential resolution coming. Then the US and Iran traded fire yesterday, causing rates (and the stock market) to worsen, but hopes are high once again today as President Trump brushed the skirmish off as "love taps" and Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned that we "should hear something today." The market has recovered the losses since yesterday and looks to be poised for a rally if the war does end, with the 10 yr treasury toying with falling through it 25 day moving average.

All this optimism despite today's jobs report! Payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 115K in April against a 55K forecast. Usually this type of data from the BLS report would be brutal for rates, but there were some underlying weaknesses that popped up. For one, the BLS is notoriously inaccurate with their reporting and the market seems to have picked up on that, possibly from a report that was issued last week (by the BLS) that pointed out how flawed their birth death model is. The Birth/Death model is an estimation how many new businesses were created or closed during the month, and by their own admission it is not accurate. So the market isn't really putting a lot of faith in this April payroll report and is likely questioning the validity of past reports as well.

0 down loan in the 5% rate range? You bet! Hat tip to Vince Kingston at Guild for highlighting this Down Payment Assistance product through Oregon Housing and Community Services which offers a 0% down loan that is geared towards First Time Home Buyers and offers a rate currently in the low 5's! If you know of anyone that is thinking about entering the housing market for the first time, have them reach out and I can see if they could be a candidate for this fantastic loan opportunity.