Category Archives: Mortgages

Fixed-Rate Mortgages Cling To Record Lows

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A sluggish economy and investor concerns over the European debt markets left mortgage rates largely unchanged the week ending September 22, 2011.

Interest RatesFreddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) the week ending September 22, 2011, showing fixed-rate mortgages changing little amid sluggish economic, mixed housing data, and ongoing concerns over the European debt markets. The 30-year fixed remained unchanged at 4.09 percent, while the 15-year fixed dropped a single basis point to 3.29 percent, marking a new record low.

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Radarlogic Recovery Proposal Snubbed By Administration

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Radarlogic®  Offers response to apparent snub of plan to repair and recover the housing market. 

In August after five years of failed government regulation to put housing right, FHFA, Treasury, HUD, threw up their hands on glut of REO properties and sought recommendations to fix the problem from the private-sector. Radarlogic reminds FHFA that it has submitted a unique two-pronged approach to restructure severely delinquent loans and rent enterprise REO properties in March of 2010 but it had been conveniently apparently “lost”:

“We understand our  proposal [submitted March 2010] was reviewed by a number of senior Treasury Department officials and may even have been shared with people at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, we received no material feedback and our proposal seemed to be lost.”

“We believe now, as we did then, that any solution to the inventory overhang problem that calls for a sale of property under current market conditions will do more harm than good. Selling properties in bulk will, in our view, only exacerbate housing market distress. Further, we believe that the notion of forcing lenders to suffer uneconomic solutions not dictated by free markets is both unfair and dangerous to our financial system and economy as a whole. We urge our elected officials and the professionals who advise them to carefully consider our approach.”

— RadarLogic, September 14, 2011 to read about Radarlogic’s proposal.

 

Martgage Rates Mired In Quicksand

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Fixed-Rate Mortgages Continue To Sink to New Record Lows

Interest RatesFreddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) for the week ending September 15, 2011. Fixed-rate mortgages remain near their 60-year lows as ongoing investor concerns over the European debt crisis keeps Treasury bond yields low. The 30-year fixed averaged 4.09 percent, a new all-time low. The 15-year fixed, a popular refinancing option, also reached a never before seen low for the week averaging 3.30 percent.

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CoreLogic: Negative Equity Declines – But Not Much

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75 Percent of Negative Equity Properties Have Above-Market Interest Rates; nationally, the level of mortgage debt remains high relative to home prices

Underwater homeCoreLogic Q2 2011 Negative Equity Report reveals Q2 negative equity data showing that 10.9 million, or 22.5 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter of 2011, down slightly from 22.7 percent in the first quarter. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 27.5 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide. Interestingly, the report also shows that nearly three-quarters of homeowners in negative equity situations are also paying higher, above-market interest on their mortgages. Continue reading →

CBO: Refi Plan No Boon to Housing

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CBO: Obama’s plan to refinance millions of loans will do little to improve housing or create jobs.

President Obama only briefly mentioned housing in his quotidian “jobs speech” when he outlined an initiative to refinance millions of homeowners’ mortgages at today’s record-low rates. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published findings that suggests Obama’s plan is likely to have little impact on the housing recovery except to redistribute $13 to $15 billion of investors’ money to borrowers. 

“With respect to the housing market, the overall impact of the program is also small; the 111,000 homeowners saved from foreclosure by virtue of lower monthly mortgage payments will have a minor impact on the path of future home prices. Because this program is directed toward current homeowners, it would do little to alleviate the tighter underwriting standards and increased credit pricing for purchase loans. In addition, it would not create much demand for homes, because all of its participants would already have at least one property.”

 —An Evaluation of Large-Scale Mortgage Refinancing Programs, Working Paper Series, Congressional Budget Office. Washington, D.C., Working Paper 2011-4, September 2011

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Mortgage Rates: New Record Lows Again

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Eurozone debt, weak U.S. employment reports, and Fed pessimism placed downward pressure on bond yields and pushed fixed mortgage rates to new lows this week.

Interest RatesFreddie Mac  released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) for the week ending September 8, 2011, showing mortgage rates, both fixed and adjustable, hitting record lows amid market and employment concerns and economic uncertainty. The previous record lows for fixed mortgage rates, and the 1-year ARM, were set the week of August 18, 2011. The 5-Year ARM matched its all-time low set last week at 2.96 percent.

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Regulator Lawsuit: GSE’s Scammed in Housing Mortgage Debacle

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Regulator (FHFA) — overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — has sued 17 of the world’s biggest banks.  Claims GSE’s were duped into buying billions of sour mortgage securities.

Rat Scammer ThiefThe Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Government Sponsored Enterprises), today filed lawsuits against 17 financial institutions, certain of their officers and various unaffiliated lead underwriters. The suits allege violations of federal securities laws and common law in the sale of residential private-label mortgage-backed securities (PLS) to the Enterprises.

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Mortgage Rates Maintain Historic Lows

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Weaker economic data reports eased upward pressure on mortgage rates this week and kept them at or near all-time record lows said Freddie Mac for week ending 9/1/11.

Interest ratesFreddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) for the week ending September 1, 2011, showing mortgage rates declining amid continued weak economic and housing data. While the 30-year fixed held steady, the 5-year ARM set a new all-time record low having fallen for the eighth consecutive week and now standing at 2.96 percent.

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Mortgage Rates Higher for the Week

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Mortgage Rates Follow Bond Yields Higher for the Week

Interest RatesFreddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) for the week ending August 25, 2011, showing mortgage rates moving higher from the previous week’s record lows as Treasury bond yields moved higher and other housing data showed slight improvement. However, the 5-year ARM did decline to 3.07 percent thereby setting a new all-time record low. Continue reading →

Will Low Rates Entice Nervous Consumers?

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“Under normal circumstances, the Fed’s announcement might have attracted new home and car buyers and prompted credit card holders to rack up fresh charges. But with unemployment high and those with jobs worried about keeping them, consumers are more concerned about paying off the loans they already have than adding more debt. And by showing its hand for the next two years, the Fed may have inadvertently invited prospective borrowers to put off large purchases.”

 MOTOKO RICH and TARA SIEGEL BERNARD, New York Times, Aug. 14, 2011

Mortgage Rates Plunge To 50 Year Lows

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Both fixed and adjustable mortgage rates sink to depth not seen in 50 years

Mortgages and Interest RatesFreddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) for the week ending August 18, 2011, showing mortgage rates, fixed and adjustable, reaching all-time lows providing further incentive for those homeowners looking to refinance. The 30-year fixed averaged 4.15 percent, breaking the previous record low of 4.17 percent set November 11, 2010.

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