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Will inflation data cause mortgage rates to rise this week?

What’s Ahead for Mortgage Rates this Week:  September 13, 2010
By:  Greg Wickstrand

Information in this post is provided by Greg Wickstrand, Home Loan Consultant for HomeServices Lending.  He is a guest blogger who provides us information from a lender’s perspective.  For additional posts by Greg, please visit his BLOG.

A shift in Wall Street sentiment caused mortgage markets to worsen last week. There wasn’t much in the way of new data, but the numbers that did hit the street helped quell fears of a double-dip recession.

Conforming mortgage rates rose between Monday-Friday for the first time since June, and mortgage-backed securities have now lost ground on six of the last 7 trading days.

During this period, conforming mortgage rates have risen by as much as 0.375 percent.

Mortgage rates for FHA-insured home loans are higher, too.

Remember, concern for the future of the U.S. economy was a major catalyst for low rates this summer. The drop in rates, which began in April on weaker-than-expected data, accelerated through July and August on record-low home sales and a stalled jobs market.

Lately, though, these concerns are turning to hope. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: california, home buyer, inflation data, kaplan, mortgage rate, pending home sales, retail sales data, san diego

Mortgage Market Update and Forecast for the Week of August 2, 2010

Information in this post is provided by Ron McGowan, Senior Mortgage Consultant with PrimeLending.  He is a guest blogger who provides us information from a lender’s perspective.  For additional information on Ron, please visit his website at ILoanSanDiego.com.

Inside Lending Newsletter from Ron McGowan for the week of August 2, 2010

Market Update
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE…Last week began nicely with June New Home Sales UP 23.6% to an annual rate of 330,000, well ahead of expectations. This was a sharp rebound from May when New Home Sales sank to record lows not seen since 1963. This volatility of course is all about the homebuyer tax credit (requiring a contract by April 30 and a closing by June 30, now extended to September 30). Consequently, new homes sold at a 422,000 pace in April, fell to a 267,000 pace in May, then went to 330,000 in June.

Demographic trends say sales should continue to rebound, as we eventually need to sell new homes at a 950,000 annual rate to meet population growth and replace teardowns. The supply of unsold new homes is now down to 7.6 months, just above the ideal 6-month level. Actual inventories are down to 210,000, their lowest level since 1968, when there were 35% fewer people around.

We also saw that home prices rose 4.6% in May, year-over-year, as tracked by the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller National Home Price Indices. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: august 2, california, kaplan, market, mortgage, nobullagent, rate, ron mcgowan, san diego, update

Will this Week’s Housing Data Cause Mortgage Rates to Change?

Information in this post is provided by Greg Wickstrand, Home Loan Consultant for HomeServices Lending.  He is a guest blogger who provides us information from a lender’s perspective.  For additional posts by Greg, please visit his BLOG.

What’s Ahead for Mortgage Rates this Week:  July 26, 2010
By:  Greg Wickstrand

Mortgage markets worsened last week for the first time in 6 weeks last week. Investors were pleased with corporate earnings reports and the European bank stress tests results.  Stocks gained on the news, and bonds lost.

Mortgage rates rose last week, but only slightly. Rate are still hovering near their lowest levels of all-time.

Of the bigger stories last week was Existing Home Sales. As reported by the National Association of Realtors®, sales volume was down in June and home supplies were up. But figures were a bit better than expected, giving some hope for housing.

Notably, the number of move-up buyers outnumbers first-timers and the national median home price rose, suggesting that mid-to-upper home prices are getting some support.

This week, the market gets additional two pieces of housing data to add to the mix:

1) New Homes Sales (Monday)
2) Case-Shiller Index (Tuesday)

Both will have an impact on mortgage rates. In general, better-than-expected data should cause rates to rise ; worse-than-expected data should cause rates to fall.

Also this week, there’s two consumer confidence reports, the Fed’s Beige Book, and late-in-the-week inflationary data.  Mortgage markets should remain volatile with so much news headed down the pipe.

It’s too soon to declare the current 3-month rally over, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: california, greg wickstrand, home buyer, july 26, kaplan, Lending, market, mortgage rate, nobullagent, prudential, san diego, update