No Bull Agent

How will housing data influence rates the week of August 16?

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:  August 16, 2010
By:  Greg Wickstrand

Mortgage markets worsened last week, putting a pause on the mortgage rate rally that dates to mid-April. Mortgage rates rose last week and home affordability suffered.

The Refi Boom remains in full effect, but rates are not as dazzling as they were a week ago.

It’s somewhat strange that mortgage rates rose last week given the heavy dose of negative-bending news.

• The Federal Reserve noted that the economy “has slowed“
• New unemployment claims rose to a 6-month high
• Retail sales — excluding auto sales — rose less than expected

Mortgage rates often to fall on such news, but last week, they rose. The biggest reason was weak demand on a new 30-year bond issuance from the government. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: august 16, california, greg wickstrand, home buyer, ken kaplan, loan, market, mortgage rate, nobullagent, 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

Mortgage Rate Update for the Week of June 21, 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:  June 21, 2010
By:  Greg Wickstrand

Mortgage markets improved last week on weaker-than-expected jobless figures, ongoing troubles in Europe, and a tame reading on domestic inflation.

As a result, conforming mortgage rates fell last week, drawing loads of new refinance applications.

For a brief moment Thursday afternoon, mortgage bond prices pierced a key support level, dropping rates to their best levels of the year.

It didn’t last long, however. By Friday morning, pricing was worsening on profit-taking and in preparation for this week — a week that promises to be heavy on both data and rhetoric.

To mortgage markets, this can be a dangerous combination.

The biggest news of the week is the Federal Reserve’s 2-day meeting, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington D.C.

The Fed is expected to hold the Fed Funds Rate in its target range near 0.000-0.250 percent. It won’t be what the Fed does at its meeting that will matter to rates, though. It will be what the Fed says — about jobs, about growth, about inflation — in its post-meeting press release.

Remarks that reflect well upon the economy should lead mortgage rates higher. Remarks viewed as negative should lead mortgage rates down.

There’s key data due for release next week, too: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: home buyer, kaplan, mortgage rate, nobullagent, san diego, update