Mortgages on the rise

Mortgage rates are rising nationwide, leaving the historically low rates of the last three weeks behind, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey released today.

For 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, the average rate was 3.95 percent in the week ending Feb. 23, up week-over-week from 3.87 percent. Last year at same time, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.95 percent. The data shows a similar increase for 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, which were up to 3.16 percent from 3.19 percent the week prior, and from 4.22 percent year-over-year. [more]

The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan increased this week from the
lowest number on record, up to 3.95 percent, according to Bloomberg. The
3.91 percent rate last week was the lowest since 1971, when records
were first kept, according to Freddie Mac. “Low interest rates are a
necessary condition to help the housing market but they aren’t
sufficient,” said Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer at
Advisors Capital Management in New Jersey. [more]

New construction and home sales should improve, but numbers will fall short of a full recovery , said Freddie Mac’s most recent economic outlook report, “Peering Into 2012,” released today.

The report projects a 3 percent to 5 percent bump in sales year-over-year, driven by a lack of inventory, due to construction stalls since the downturn, and continued low mortgage rates. However, ample demand for distressed properties continues to depress home values, and the report states that the market has likely not yet bottomed out.

Mortgage rates should remain low, however, with Operation Twist — the Federal Reserve’s program to sell shorter term assets and buy longer-term assets — keeping fixed-rates for 15- through 30-year mortgages low during the first half of the year at least. Rates should climb during the second half of the year, as the program expires, the report says. – Guelda Voien [more]

Mortgage rates continue to sink to new depths, seemingly shattering previous lows every week. In the week ending today, the 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were at all-time lows, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released today by Freddie Mac.

The 30-year fixed rate is 4.12 percent, down from 4.22 percent last week and 4.35 percent during the same period a year ago. The 15-year rate declined to 3.33 percent, down from 3.39 percent last week and 3.83 percent during the same week of 2010.

Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages matched the all-time low set last week of 2.96 percent, down from 3.56 percent last year. The one-year adjustable rate was down to 2.84 percent, also an all-time low. — Adam Fusfeld [more]

Frank Sorrentino, chairman and CEO of North Jersey Community Bank, appeared on CNBC today to discuss the national housing market (see video above). Though mortgage rates “are probably the lowest they’ve ever been” and U.S. housing prices are “incredibly low,” Sorrentino said “a crisis of confidence” is preventing consumers from making purchases. “People watch the news all day,” he said, “but if they would step back from that noise and they would look at their situations, [they would see] now is a really great time to buy a home.” [more]

The average interest rate for the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage dropped to a new record low over the past seven days, while fixed-rate mortgages remained flat on a week-over-week basis, according to the latest data from government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The five-year Treasury-indexed ARM hit 3.22 percent this week, down from 3.25 percent last week and 3.79 percent during the same week one year ago. The previous record low was 3.25 percent in November 2010. Meanwhile, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage saw an average interest rate of 4.51 percent, up only slightly from last week, when it averaged 4.5 percent, but down from last year’s 4.58 percent. – Sarabeth Sanders [more]

With U.S. mortgage rates lowering and rents set to increase with an upshoot in occupancy rates, real estate agents are proclaiming now is the time to buy a home. However, you can make an equally strong case for renting, according to the New York Times. In fact, it’s a pretty close race. Neither mortgage rates nor rents are likely to quickly sky-rocket and house prices remain higher than their long term average. The relative merits of renting and buying have not been so equal since the beginning of the housing bubble, a decade ago. [more]

From the March issue: Fixed 30-year mortgage rates in the 5 percent range? Minimum down payments below 5 percent? Jumbo-size home loans for high-cost markets at regular interest rates? Kiss them good-bye — possibly sooner than you might guess. Take a snapshot of today’s mortgage market conditions and frame it. It’s highly likely you’ll never see anything like these favorable combinations of rates and terms again. That’s the inescapable conclusion emerging from the Obama administration’s “white paper” on optional remedies for the two ailing giants of housing finance — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — along with events already under way in the national economy. [more]

(source: Halstead)There’s reason to be optimistic about the city’s residential real estate market after recent data highlighted a trio of positive indicators. According to a new report compiled by Gregory Heym, Halstead’s chief economist, the city added private-sector jobs in 2010, after posting a net loss in that area the previous year. The gains were led by the education, health and hospitality fields, even as government employment fell by more than 17,000. Meanwhile, Wall Street firms had their second-highest profit total ever in 2010, with $27.6 billion. TRD [more]

A sustained increase in mortgage rates over the past several weeks could signal the end of the historic lows seen in 2010, analysts told the New York Times. The popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 4.17 percent on Nov. 11, the lowest in mortgage giant Freddie Mac’s nearly four-decade history of tracking rates. But since then, rates have ticked upward to 4.83 percent, which the government-backed company recorded Dec. 16. Meanwhile, the Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts an increase in 30-year fixed rates to 5.1 percent by this time next year and 5.7 percent two years from now. [more]