Mortgage Rate Lock advisory for New York or Florida Mortgages for Wednesday, October 19, 2011

If you are looking for a Mortgage Professional who will give you the type of service that you deserve, contact Bob Amato (NMLS # 8632) and Empire Home Mortgage Inc. (NMLS # 44882). We answer our phones seven days a week until 9PM. Put us to the test! Our toll free number is (866) 742-5227.

 Visit our website, www.empirehomemortgageinc.com. There you can get answers to all of your financing questions, view rates and search for foreclosed properties.

 If you are considering locking in an interest rate for a New York mortgage or a Florida mortgage, read this post.

 Wednesday’s bond market has opened fairly flat despite favorable economic data and a mixed open in stocks. The Dow is currently showing a gain of 34 points while the Nasdaq has lost 10 points. The bond market is nearly unchanged from yesterday’s close, which should keep this morning’s mortgage pricing at yesterday’s levels.

 There were two relevant economic reports released this morning. The more important of the two, September's Consumer Price Index (CPI), came in with a 0.3% increase in the overall reading and a 0.1% rise in the core data. The overall reading pegged forecasts, but the core data reading was slightly lower than the 0.2% that was expected. That indicates that core inflationary pressures at the consumer level of the economy were weaker than thought, making the data favorable for the bond market and mortgage rates.

 September’s Housing Starts appeared to give us negative news by showing a sizable spike in starts of new home construction. The 15% jump in housing starts was well above forecasts and the most since April of last year. That would appear to indicate a strengthening housing sector, but dissecting the report paints a different picture. A large increase in starts of apartments and multi-family housing is being attributed to the overall increase, hinting that demand is for rental properties and not ownership of single family homes. In fact, a secondary reading in the report that tracks permits issued for new construction fell to a five month low, indicating that future housing starts are likely to be weaker. Therefore, we can consider this data fairly favorable for the bond market and mortgage rates. Unfortunately, the low importance of this report and this morning’s stock activity are preventing a positive morning in bonds.

 We do have a third report to watch for today. It will come at 2:00 PM this afternoon when the Federal Reserve posts their Beige Book. This data details economic conditions throughout the U.S. by Fed region and is relied upon heavily by the Federal Reserve when determining monetary policy at their FOMC meetings. If it reveals stronger signs of economic growth from the last release, we could see mortgage rates revise higher during late afternoon hours.

 Tomorrow has three more reports scheduled that may influence mortgage rates. The first comes at 8:30 AM ET when the Labor Department announces last week’s unemployment figures. They are expected to say that 403,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week, down slightly from the previous week. Unless we see a sizable drop or increase in new claims, this data will likely have little impact on bond trading and tomorrow’s mortgage rates. The higher the total claims, the better the news for mortgage borrowers.** September’s Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) will be posted at 10:00 AM ET. This index attempts to measure future economic activity, particularly during the next three to six months. Current forecasts are calling for an increase of 0.3% from August's reading. This would indicate that economic activity is likely to increase moderately over the next couple of months. That would be relatively bad news for the bond market and mortgage rates, but this report is considered to be only moderately important. Therefore, a small increase would not be of much concern to the bond and mortgage markets. Ideally, we would like to see a decline in the index.

 If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.

 Empire Home Mortgage Inc. is a registered Mortgage Broker with the New York and Florida State Banking Departments and our loans are arranged through third party providers.