Sep 2, 2011 | Buying Real Estate, Housing Analysis, Mortgage Lenders, Mortgage Rates, News
Has housing turned the corner for good?
The June 2011 Case-Shiller Index reading posted strong numbers across the board, with each of the index’s 20 tracked markets showing home price improvement from May.
Some markets — Chicago and Minneapolis — rose as much as 3.2 percent.
The rise in values is nothing about which to get overly excited, however. The Case-Shiller Index is just re-reporting what multiple data sets have already shown about the summer housing market; that it was stronger than the spring market, and that a recovery is underway, but occurring locally, at different rates.
For example, the June 2011 Case-Shiller Index shows the following :
- Denver, Dallas, Washington D.C., and the “California Cities” bottomed in 2009. Each has shown steady improvement since.
- None of the Case-Shiller cities showed negative growth between May and June 2011.
- 12 of Case-Shiller’s tracked cities have improved over 3 consecutive months.
In isolation, these statistics appear promising, but it’s important to remember that the Case-Shiller Index is a backward-looking data set, focusing on just a portion of the national housing economy. (more…)
Aug 19, 2011 | Buying Real Estate, Mortgage Lenders, Mortgage Rates, News
Last week, at its 5th scheduled meeting of the year, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate in its target range near zero percent.
The Fed Funds Rate has been near zero percent since December 2008 and, in its official statement, the FOMC pledged to leave the Fed Funds Rate untouched for at least another 2 years.
This doesn’t mean mortgage rates will be untouched for 2 years, though.
Mortgage rates and the Fed Funds Rate are two different interest rates; completely disconnected. If mortgage rates and the Fed Funds Rate moved in tandem, the chart at right would be a straight line.
Instead, it’s jagged.
To make the point more strongly, let’s use real-life examples from the past decade.
- June 2004, 529 basis points separated the Fed Funds Rate and the 30-year fixed mortgage rate
- June 2006, 168 basis points separated the Fed Funds Rate and the 30-year fixed mortgage rate
Today, the separation between the two benchmark rates is 407 basis points.
1 basis point is equal to 0.01%. (more…)
Apr 7, 2011 | Legislation, Mortgage Lenders, News, Realtors
The Federal Reserve Board’s regulations governing loan originator compensation went into effect April 6 after a federal appeals court dissolved a stay suspending implementation of the rule.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order March 30 to stay the implementation of the Board’s loan originator compensation regulations. However, on April 5, the appeals court on Tuesday ruled National Association of Mortgage Brokers and (NAMB) the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals (NAIHP) had not “satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending appeal,” and dissolved its administrative stay of the rule.
The Associations filed a lawsuit March 9 against The Federal Reserve System seeking to restrain implementation of a section of the Fed’s loan originator compensation rule. On March 30, Judge Beryl Howell denied NAMB’s request although she found the rule could cause irreparable harm. NAMB then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which then issued the stay on March 31, preventing the rules from going into effect April 1. The Federal Court then dissolved the stay after both NAMB and the Federal Reserve filed replies.
The three-judge appeals court panel also denied an emergency motion to stay implementation of the rule pending appeal, and denied a motion for expedited relief that sought to fast-track the appeal process.
Read more about this on HousingWire.
Mar 7, 2011 | Buying Real Estate, Mortgage Lenders, News, Realtors
Turmoil in Libya and Middle East countries may send oil prices up and affect mortgage rates.
If investors fear that rising oil prices will derail an emerging recovery, they will remove their money from stocks and put it into safer bonds, especially government Treasuries. That will help lower mortgage rates. More bond purchases will push bond prices up and their yields, or their interest rates paid to bond owners, down. Mortgage rates would also decline, since they cannot be lower than government bond rates.
That’s exactly what’s been happening this week. Oil prices went over $100 a barrel, its highest price since September 2008. Mortgage rates have declined for three consecutive weeks, with the average rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declining from 5 percent to 4.84 percent last week.
Mar 3, 2011 | Buying Real Estate, Mortgage Lenders, News, Realtors
Long-term fixed rates decreased for the third consecutive week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.87 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 3, 2011, down from last week when it averaged 4.95 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.97 percent.
The 15-year FRM averaged 4.15 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.22 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.33 percent.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.72 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.8 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.11 percent. (more…)
Nov 11, 2010 | Buying Real Estate, Interesting Stuff, Mortgage Lenders, News, Realtors
HUD’s videos are easily accessible from HUD’s website as well as from HUD’s YouTube channel.Keeping up with the changing times and the push of social media the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has set up a YouTube Channel. HUD has unveiled three how-to videos to assist potential homebuyers find an affordable home, shop for the right mortgage and what to expect at closing. (more…)
