Mortgage interest rates remained flat this week, averaging 4.37 percent for the 30-year and 3.82 percent for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, according to data from Freddie Mac through Sept. 23. For the 15-year mortgage, that figure tied a record low and was down from 4.46 percent at the same time last year, while the 30-year mortgage’s rate dropped from 5.04 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage was down slightly, by 0.1 percent week-over-week, coming in at 3.54 percent, and its one-year counterpart averaged 3.46 percent, up from 3.40 percent one week prior. Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, attributed the still-low interest rates to a combination of economic conditions and consumer confidence. “The perception of slow growth and low inflation removed any upward pressure on fixed mortgage rates this week,” he said. TRD
Posts Tagged ‘frank nothaft’
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Frank Nothaft
Both 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgage rates continued to decline during the week ending Aug. 12, according to a market report released today by Freddie Mac. The 30-year rate hit 4.44 percent this past week, down from 4.49 percent the prior week and 5.29 percent during the same week a year earlier. The 15-year fixed rate mortgage saw a record low, with average rates nationwide hovering around 3.92 percent. Last week’s rate was 3.95 percent, while the same week in 2009 saw an average rate of 4.68 percent. Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist with Freddie Mac, said that the low rates were good for the battered housing market. “Low rates are helping to heal many battered local housing markets by increasing home purchase activity,” Nothaft. Even so, this week’s mortgage bankers association report showed that, despite the low rate nationwide, there has been little mortgage application activity in recent weeks. TRD
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Mortgage interest rates have reached record lows for the sixth week in a row, for the week ending July 29, according to data from government-sponsored mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged a 4.54 contract interest rate, down from 4.56 percent last week and 5.25 percent during the same week last year. It was the lowest interest rate for the 30-year mortgage recorded in the 30-year history of Freddie Mac’s survey. Its 15-year counterpart averaged 4 percent, down from 4.03 percent last week and 4.69 percent last year. Freddie Mac began tracking the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage in 1991, and its interest rate has never been this low since then. Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, noted that the mortgage rate dips come amid mixed reports on the housing market this week. The S&P/Case-Shiller Housing Price Index showed that more cities are seeing price increases and new home sales rose nationwide, while existing home sales slowed. TRD
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Homeowners looking to refinance are increasingly putting down cash at
the closing table in order to lower their principal balance and take
out a new loan at a lower rate, according to data from Freddie Mac
released yesterday. During the second quarter, 22 percent of homeowners
who refinanced put down additional money to pay off some of their
principal for the third-highest “cash-in” share of refinancing
borrowers since Freddie Mac started tracking them in 1985. Borrowers
who increased their loan balance by 5 percent or more — or took
“cash-out”, as the practice is called — made up 27 percent of
refinance loans during the second quarter. The last three quarters have
seen the lowest “cash-out” shares since 1985, which the Freddie Mac
report attributed to low home prices and tightened underwriting
standards. “Interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages are at 50-year lows,
making refinancing attractive if borrowers qualify, and similarly rates
on savings instruments like CDs are also very low, which makes the
choice of paying down mortgage principal very attractive to borrowers
with extra cash reserves,” explained Frank Nothaft, vice president and
chief economist at Freddie Mac. TRD -
Homeowners looking to refinance are increasingly putting down cash at the closing table in order to lower their principal balance and take out a new loan at a lower rate, according to data from Freddie Mac released yesterday. During the second quarter, 22 percent of homeowners who refinanced put down additional money to pay off some of their principal for the third-highest “cash-in” share of refinancing borrowers since Freddie Mac started tracking them in 1985. Borrowers who increased their loan balance by 5 percent or more — or took “cash-out”, as the practice is called — made up 27 percent of refinance loans during the second quarter. The last three quarters have seen the lowest “cash-out” shares since 1985, which the Freddie Mac report attributed to low home prices and tightened underwriting standards. “Interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages are at 50-year lows, making refinancing attractive if borrowers qualify, and similarly rates on savings instruments like CDs are also very low, which makes the choice of paying down mortgage principal very attractive to borrowers with extra cash reserves,” explained Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. TRD
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Mortgage interest rates reached new record lows this week as consumer confidence declined, according data from Freddie Mac for the week ending today. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged a record-low 4.56 percent, down from 4.57 percent last week and 5.2 percent last year. Freddie Mac began tracking interest rates for the 30-year mortgage in 1971. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also hit a 19-year record low 4.03 percent average interest rate, down from 4.06 percent last week and 4.68 percent last year at this time. Interest rates also dropped for the five-year and one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages, which averaged 3.79 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively this week. “The decline in mortgages rates over the past few weeks echoes the recent signs of weakening confidence in the strength of the economy, particularly the housing and consumer sectors,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, who cited reported drops in home builder confidence and consumer confidence in July as evidence of the trend. Still, he added, “we see these as part of the normal pattern of ebbs and flows in recovery and believe that there is sufficient momentum to carry the U.S. economy forward, albeit moderately.” TRD
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Home mortgage rates last week remained steady near recent lows, including a record low for the 15-year fixed-rate loan, Freddie Mac determined, according to the Wall Street Journal. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average rose slightly to 4.79 percent for the week that ended Thursday, according to Freddie’s weekly survey. In the previous week, the average rate was 4.78 percent, the lowest
since December. The year-ago average for the 30-year home loan stood at 5.29 percent. “The economy grew at a slower rate than originally reported in the first three months of the year… which suggests inflation will remain tame in the near term,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, referring to revised data on U.S. gross domestic product. “As a result,” he said, “mortgage rates held at historic levels this week.” Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.2 percent, down from 4.21 percent in the prior week. [WSJ] -
The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped to 4.78 percent this week from 4.84 percent a week earlier, according to a primary mortgage market survey released by Freddie Mac. It was the lowest level since early December, when rates fell to a record low of 4.71 percent. Also this week, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.21 percent, the lowest level in almost two decades. Analysts attribute the drops to the European debt crisis, which has also caused yields for 10-year and 30-year Treasury bonds to dip to their lowest levels of 2010. But once Europe springs back and the U.S. economic recovery stays on track, rates are likely to move higher since traders will move their money back into riskier investments, analysts predict. “These low rates will help to elevate homebuyer affordability and soften the effects of the sunset of the homebuyer tax credit,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac. “The credit substantially propelled home sales, as reflected in the strength of the April existing and new home sales, which were up 7.6 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively.” TRD
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Mortgage rates continued their decline this week, with the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reaching an average contract interest rate of 4.84 percent — its lowest level of the year so far, according to the latest data from Freddie Mac. Last week, the 30-year FRM came in at 4.93 percent. Meanwhile, its 15-year counterpart averaged 4.24 percent, down from 4.3 percent last year. and the 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 4 percent, down from 4.02 percent last week. This was the lowest interest rate for the 15-year FRM since August 1991 and the lowest for the 1-year ARM since October 2004. Record-low mortgage rates, combined with the homebuyer tax credit, have helped stabilize the housing market, said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac. TRD
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Last week’s low mortgage rates held steady this week, helping to bolster home construction activity, according to the latest data from government-backed mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac. The popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage had an average 5.07 percent interest rate for the week that ended today, unchanged from the week before but up from 4.80 percent last year at this time. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.39 percent, down slightly from 4.40 percent last week and from 4.48 percent one year ago. “These low mortgage rates are revitalizing the home construction industry,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, citing the National Association of Home Builder’s April data, which showed builder confidence at its highest level since September 2009. TRD
