Good morning all! Here we are in the first weeks of summer for 2009. Things have been very busy here in Helena, Montana as far as real estate lending is concerned. We have been going gangbusters with refinancing over the past couple of months. Now that interest rates have crept up, we have begun to see the slow down.
Interest rates were at 4.50%....the lowest I have ever seen them but now they are at 5.25%. 5.25% is still a very good rate compared to what they have been in the past 25 years. Have applications slowed down becuase of interest rates rising or has it slowed down because everyone that has the opportunity to refinance has already done so?
With the increased pricing on 10 year bonds, the yield has come down slowly therefore reducing the mortgage interest rates. Unemployment is at an all time national high of 9.25% and it seems that Montana is seeing its share of it too. Fortunately, in Helena we are very lucky so far as to see pretty minimal unemployment while other parts of the state have shown higher signs.
We are seeing more purchases coming around as well as new starts on construction loans, including speculative. I don't believe the refinance boom is over either. Let's keep our heads up and keep working hard to help as many people as we can and hope Helena doesn't get hit by the recession! Talk to you soon!
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