Here's How The Brexit Could Impact The U.S. Housing Market

While most Americans don’t particularly care whether or not Britain is part of Europe, they do care about the U.S. housing market and mortgage rates.

If you are wondering if the Brexit vote could impact either, it already has. Uncertainty surrounding the Brexit vote was likely one of the main drivers behind the Federal Reserve’s decision not to raise U.S. interest rates in June.

But there’s another way that the Brexit vote could indirectly boost the U.S. housing market.

“[The] isolationist move will cause many wealthy foreigners to consider selling their properties in [the] UK, especially in London as it becomes [a] less attractive place to set up offices to conduct global business,” National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun says. “Therefore, demand for U.S. real estate could rise if global investors view America as open to global business.”

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Analysts also expect money to flow out of the U.K. bond market and into U.S. Treasuries.

Detroit-based mortgage company Quicken Loans says it saw a 30 percent increase in traffic to its Rocket Mortgage site as news of the Brexit and its impact on U.S. treasury bonds reached U.S. consumers.

"While the equity markets were down, interest rates dipped to a three year low today on the Brexit news," said Regis Hadiaris, Rocket Mortgage Product Lead. "The first place people typically go when they hear news like this is online. That's exactly what we were seeing today with our Rocket Mortgage activity. People want to check rates quickly and easily and then lock in fast before they edge back up. Speed is really the key when these kinds of rate shifts happen."

Wells Fargo is predicting that 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields will reach 0.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively within two weeks of the Brexit vote.

The iShares Barclays 20+ Yr Treas.Bond (ETF) TLT is one of the few bright spots in Friday’s brutal market, up 2.7 percent in mid-day trading.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.