Bank of America and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage bonds were the big winners from a Federal Reserve housing study that circulated through Congress this week, Bloomberg News reported, while mortgage bonds backed by high-cost debt lost in a massive market-shakeup. [more]

It’s difficult to make grand predictions for the mortgage market, following the volatile activity during the throes of the recession, but Ron Gitter, a real estate attorney and blogger at coopandcondo.com, thinks there’s one movie that could unravel the mystery: “Jason and the Argonauts.” Like Jason’s quest for the golden fleece, Gitter said in a Huffington Post opinion piece, the mortgage market faces several challenges on its quest for stability, notably Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s changing roles in the secondary market and an interest rate that has nowhere to go but up. “The one-two punch of higher interest rates and the inevitability of changes coming to Fannie and Freddie only further slow the process of the elusive real estate recovery,” Gitter said. “For those of us on the ground, getting deals done seems to get more difficult every day.” [Huffington Post]

From the August issue: Ask half-a-dozen mortgage and real estate brokers which bank has the
best rates for residential mortgages in New York City right now, and
expect two dozen different answers.
Then check back again, in a week or even a day, for an entirely new set of replies.
Buyers have typically benefited from shopping around for mortgage
rates from various lenders. However, in the wake of a massive
government bailout of ailing banks plus a recessionary deep freeze in
the credit markets, the residential mortgage market is more splintered
than it has been in 15 years. What’s more, it’s only growing more
fractured. “It used to be three or four banks would control 80 percent of the
market, but now it’s 12 banks, and those constantly change,” said Eric
Appelbaum, president of Apple Mortgage Corp. in Manhattan. “Rates are
between 4 7/8 and 5 3/8 right this second, and two months ago they were
cheaper.” Look beyond the waves of volatility, and a few clear trends emerge. [more]