No Bull Agent

Mortgage Rate Update for the Week of July 6, 2010

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 6, 2010
By:  Greg Wickstrand

Mortgage markets improved last week as economic data revealed a slowing U.S. economy.

Major stock indices fell to 2010 lows in response to a weak jobs report among other data points, forcing worldwide investors into the relative safety of U.S. government-backed bonds.  This category includes mortgage-backed bonds and the extra demand helped to drop rates.

Once again, mortgage rates improved and Freddie Mac is reporting new all-time lows on three popular, conforming loan products:

• The 30-year fixed rate mortgage
• The 15-year fixed rate mortgage
• The 5-year adjustable rate mortgage

Low rates mean low payments and you can’t know your options until you ask.

This week, mortgage rates may move slowly. There’s very little data set for release because markets were closed Monday in observance of Independence Day, and because the second calendar week of a month is traditionally data-slow. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: california, home buyer, interest rate, july 6, kaplan, Lending, market, mortgage, nobullagent, san diego, update

Housing Market Update…A Lender’s Perspective

Market update provided by Ron McGowan at PrimeLending for the week of March 29, 2010…

“February existing home sales were down for the third month in a row, but the 0.6% drop was less than expected.  We had severe winter weather putting a damper on things and we’re still seeing the hangover from sales pushed into October and November when everyone thought the homebuyer tax credit was going away.  February new single-family home sales were down 2.2%.  But the median price of $220,500 was UP 5.2% over last year and the average price of $282,600 was a strong 9.3% UP from a year ago.  The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) expects existing home sales to be UP almost 4% this year to 5.34 million, going to 5.72 million in 2011.  They see new home sales hitting 398,000 in 2010 and 528,000 the following year.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced new measures that will go into effect for borrowers next Monday, April 5.  Here’s what they mean:  1) The upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) will go Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: FHA, home sales, Lending