Mortgage rates hit new lows

Baltimore Business Journal - by Ed Duggan Contributor

Mortgage rates not seen since the 1950s have sparked a tsunami of applications for refinancing as well as a slight uptick in new purchase loans, according to the latest weekly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Data indicates that 78.5 percent of applications were for refinancing, up from the already elevated 72.9 percent of the preceding week.

Orawin Velz, associate vice president of economic forecasting for the MBA, said in a news release that the rate drops followed the Federal Reserve's announcement of the U.S. Treasury bond and mortgage-backed securities purchase programs.

The drop offered a "sizable refinance incentive" for most homeowners and sparked the pickup in refinance activity, Velz said.

Total activity was up 31.4 percent from the previous week and up 18 percent from the same week a year ago.

Based upon an 80 percent loan-to-value ratio, average 30-year fixed rate mortgages dipped to 4.63 percent from 4.89 percent in the prior week. Points decreased to 1.13 from 1.23, including the origination fee.

That rate is the lowest since the MBA began its weekly surveys in 1990 and the data covers approximately 50 percent of all retail mortgage applications made by mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts.

The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage dropped as well to 4.48 percent from 4.89 percent in the prior week. Points were down to 1.07 from 1.18, as all fixed rate plans continued to decline.

The out-of-favor, one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rate increased to 6.22 percent from 6.20 percent in the previous week. ARM applications made up only 1.4 percent of the applications, down from 2 percent in the prior week.

The four-week moving average of activity - a longer-range view of what's happening in the mortgage market - was up 13.9 percent overall, with new purchase activity up 1.7 percent and refinancing up 18.7 percent.

Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore says region 'holding its own'

Baltimore Business Journal - by Ryan Sharrow Staff

Greater Baltimore is riding out the recession better than most of the top 25 U.S. cities, according to recent data compiled by the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore.

The organization found that Greater Baltimore had the third-lowest unemployment rate, 5.4 percent, as of December 2008. The region's employment rate decline of 0.2 percent was also the seventh smallest drop nationally.

The group's report, released Monday, compared economic indicators in the top 25 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. Most of the data was from the end of 2008.

Greater Baltimore also ranked sixth, with a 3.2 percent increase, in the growth of professional, scientific and technical services. Baltimore's metropolitan median home price drop was 5.5 percent, the second lowest among the major U.S. cities.

"While the recession continues to negatively impact every major U.S. market, Greater Baltimore is holding its own, cushioned by its high concentration of employment in more insulated industries - such as information technology, health care, and education - as well as the region's relatively low exposure to foreclosures and dramatically declining home prices," CEO J. Thomas Sadowski said in a statement.

Sadowski also cited a Forbes study ranking Baltimore as a top city for job growth in 2009.

The Alliance attributes the strong rankings to Baltimore's core base of education and health care institutions.

Home sales up 5.1% in U.S.

Sales of existing homes increased 6.1 percent in the South, which includes Maryland, in February.

On a national level, existing home sales were up 5.1 percent in February, according to a report released today by the National Association of Realtors.

But sales in the South are still soft -- more than 11 percent lower than February 2008.

More than 40 percent of sales in February across the nation were of foreclosed properties, or properties in default that were being sold for less than the mortgage balance.

Most of the sales nationally were concentrated at the bottom of the price ladder. Because more expensive homes are selling less well, the sales records continue to show dropping median prices.

The median price in the South was $146,700, down 10 percent from a year ago.