Sunny and 55 on Edisto; what a beautiful even it was last night with the full moon reflecting on the Atlantic. Looks like diamonds sparkling. What a great life~ Just received this update from one of my mortgage lenders with their opinion on whats happening in the lending arena. Would be glad to hear from any of my professional cohorts what their reads are about the market. Here goes;
We are nearing the 4.875% range on the 30 year fixed again. ARM rates are near lows as the 5 year ARM sits at 3.875% and the 10 year ARM is at 4.5%. With the debt problems overseas we hope to see some stabilizing in mortgages in the low 5.0% range in the coming days. A couple of concerns came out this week regarding home sales. Existing-home sales fell 7.2% in January. Also, sales of single-family homes fell 6.9% according to the NAR. Both these numbers coupled with an even larger drop in new home sales reported earlier in the week suggest we have hit a lull after the November closing rush for the now extended tax credit. We did see confirmation from Fed Chairmen Bernanke that rates will remain low for the foreseeable future. Many feel this could be into late 2010 to early 2011 before the Fed starts to raise short term interest rates. Foreclosure Figures Fourth quarter numbers by The Mortgage Bankers Association's report on foreclosures showed fewer homeowners are starting to fall behind on their loans, compared with the third quarter. But the number of borrowers who have missed at least three payments kept growing. This could mean banks are starting to utilize the loan modification process vs.. pushing a homeowner into foreclosure. Here's a look at some of the numbers for the last three months of 2009: Percent of homeowners in foreclosure or delinquency: 15
Percent in foreclosure: 4.6
Percent who have missed any payments: 10.4
Percent who have missed at least 90 days of payments: 5.1
As banks work on modifications the number of new foreclosures hitting the market will slow. This will eventually draw down inventory and the healing process will begin.
Let me know what your forecasters are saying.
Marie
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