Evansville, Newburgh IN Real Estate Blog

Real Estate Blog

Saturday, March 06 2010

The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.97 percent this week, down from 5.01 percent last week, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. Last year at this time, rates on 30-year mortgages averaged 5.16 percent.

The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.34 percent from 4.40 percent, Freddie Mac said.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.19 percent, down from 4.27 percent a week earlier. One-year ARMs rose to 4.33 percent from 4.22 percent.

Borrowers can reduce their interest rates by buying points, equal to 1 percent of the mortgage amount. The nationwide averages in Freddie Mac's survey were 0.7 points for 30-year mortgages and 0.6 points for 15-year, five-year and one-year loans.

"To me, these numbers say, for another week, so far so good," said Don Rissmiller, chief economist for New York-based Strategas Research Partners.

"The question that's lingering is what happens when the Fed removes its continuing support for housing."

A Federal Reserve program to buy as much as $1.25 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities helped push rates to a record low 4.71 percent in December. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke reiterated the Fed's intention to end the purchases at the end of March.

His comments came in written testimony prepared for a House Financial Services Committee hearing that was postponed because of snow.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of mortgage applications fell 1.2 percent in the week ended Feb. 5, with the purchase gauge decreasing 7 percent and the refinancing gauge increasing 1.4 percent. More than two out of three mortgage applications were for refinance transactions over the first six weeks of this year, according to the association.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021105366.html

Posted by: Rolando Trentini AT 02:03 pm | Permalink | 0 Comments | Email

Friday, February 26 2010

Fed: Interest Rates to Remain Low

Investors breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday when Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke told Congress that interest rates are likely to remain low for an extended period. The economy, he said, "still requires support for recovery."

Investors see these low rates as a boon to a recovery of employment and business.

Bernanke’s announcement also took the edge off the news Wednesday that housing sales hit a new low in January.

"Even though nothing he said was particularly new, it was just enough to calm the ruffled feathers that were out there," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust in Chicago.

Source: The Associated Press, Tim Paradis (02/24/2010)

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2010022501?OpenDocument

Posted by: Rolando Trentini AT 08:00 am | Permalink | 0 Comments | Email

Monday, December 28 2009

Interest Rates Predicted to Reach 6%

Interest rates are likely to rise to 6 percent by the end of 2010, predicted Amy Crews Cutts, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac.

The end of the Federal Reserve program that buys mortgage-backed securities will drive rates higher because private buyers will demand more return than the Fed.

"Extraordinary resources have been put into keeping the rates down and supporting the mortgage markets and it's hard to imagine that the rates can go much lower than they are," Crews Cutts said. "Anything we get at or below 5 percent is a gift at this point."

Source: Washington Post, Dina ElBoghdady (12/26/2009) http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009122803?OpenDocument

Posted by: Rolando Trentini AT 03:12 pm | Permalink | 0 Comments | Email