Category: Mortgage Rates
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Crossing the Line
The week’s headline was the announcement by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) that interest rates for the 30-year conforming mortgage had crossed the 5.0% line, with FHA and jumbo loans close behind. All the rates quoted by MBA (which differ slightly from Freddie Mac’s) were the highest in at least seven years. Rates have been…
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Getting a Jump
Housing news this week was dominated by construction reports. Well, maybe dominated is too strong a word–there wasn’t much competition. A burst of enthusiasm on the part of homebuilders last month had carried the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) Housing Market Index to a 12-year high. NAHB said builder confidence moderated a bit this month;…
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Mortgage Rates Spike
The bond market went a little crazy last week, and mortgage rates followed. By Monday of this week most lenders were quoting 4.0% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM). The market calmed a bit midweek, and by Thursday Freddie Mac reported a slight easing to 3.94 %. The speed of the increase was close to…
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Rate Dithering
Commentary ~ February 26, 2016 Mortgage rates have continued to dither and the answer to whether they are heading up or down even further depends on who you ask. Based on reports that came in for last week, we were prepared to report the good times were over. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported across the…
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Re-Funded
Commentary ~ November 20, 2015 The Annual Report to Congress from Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro centered around some big news this week. The Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (MMIF), which backs up the FHA mortgage guarantee, has recovered to its legally required capital ratio, 2% of its outstanding mortgage balances, and did…
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Rate Watch Redux
Commentary ~ November 13, 2015 The guessing game is on again. The October Employment Situation report that came out last Friday has left economists grasping for superlatives. The numbers were way above what analysts were looking for–somewhere around 190,000 new jobs. Instead non-farm payrolls grew by 271,000, the largest increase since last December.…