mortgage interest rates: New Home Sales Increase For The Second Straight Month! - 05/25/11 04:03 PM
Sales of newly-built homes surprised Wall Street, jumping 7 percent to an seasonally-adjusted, annualized 323,000 units last month.
In addition, the supply of new homes dropped to 6.5 months — a 2-month decrease from October 2010 and the best reading in a year.
The report runs counter to recent reports from the National Association of Homebuilders and the National Association of REALTORS® which suggest a looming housing slowdown. April’s New Home Sales report runs counter to that theory; it shows ongoing, steady, staggered improvement in terms of sales volume and sales inventory.
Broken-down by sales prices, the New Home Sales report … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Memorial Day Messes With Mortgage Rates! - 05/24/11 04:10 PM
Mortgage rates across the state are near year-to-date lows, but locking them in this week may be difficult. As Memorial Day nears, and Wall Streeters get a head-start on the long weekends, trade volume in the mortgage bond markets will dip.
When bond volume drops, mortgage rates get jumpy. It’s a relationship based more on scarcity than actual market fundamentals.
It works like this:
Conforming and FHA mortgage rates are based on the “market price” of a mortgage-backed bond Mortgage-backed bonds can’t be bought or sold without a buyer and a seller at a specific price As Friday gets closer this … (3 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Fed Minutes Put The Heat On Mortgage Rates To Rise! - 05/19/11 04:44 PM
The Federal Reserve released its April 2011 Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes Wednesday. In the hours since, mortgage markets have worsened; rates in California are higher by 1/8 percent this morning, at least.
The “Fed Minutes” is published 8 times annually, three week after each scheduled FOMC meeting. The minutes are the Federal Reserve’s official recap of the conversations and debates that shaped the prior FOMC session.
Another way to consider the Fed Minutes is as the companion piece to the more well-known FOMC press release. The press release is issued on the day of adjournment, and is brief, narrow, and high-level. … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Building Permits Fade Faster Than Expected! - 05/18/11 05:07 PM
Single-family housing starts dropped by 21,000 units in April on a seasonally-adjusted annual basis.
The Housing Starts report measures the number of homes on which new construction “broke ground”. It’s tracked by the U.S. Department of Commerce which releases new data monthly.
Single-family housing starts fell 5 percent as compared to March 2011, and 30 percent as compared to April one year ago. 
The figures were worse than what Wall Street expected. For just the second time in 2 years, monthly single-family housing starts dropped below 400,000 units. In addition, single-family Building Permits fell in April as well, shedding 2 percent from March.
… (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Home Builders Seeing More Sales Today; Fewer Sales Tomorrow... - 05/17/11 04:58 PM
Home builder confidence can’t shake its range, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The group’s monthly Housing Market Index put May’s builder confidence reading at a level of 16.
The Housing Market Index is scored on a scale of 1-100. A reading above 50 suggests favorable conditions for the new home housing market, as reported by home builders. A reading below 50 suggests unfavorable conditions.
May marks the sixth time in 7 months that the HMI posted a 16, the longest such plateau in the index’s history.
The HMI has not posted higher than 50 since April 2006.
As … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Mortgage Rates Going Lower This Week? - 05/16/11 04:08 PM
Mortgage markets worsened overall last week for the first time in 5 weeks.
Better-than-anticipated economic data plus dwindling concerns for Greece’s sovereign debt combined to a spark a bond sell-off. Conforming mortgage rates moved higher in California as a result.
Rate shoppers were hit especially hard last Tuesday.
At Monday’s close, conventional fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages were posting their lowest levels of 2011, but by Tuesday’s market close, rates had climbed as much as 0.250 percent across the board. In some cases, more.
The spike highlights how quickly mortgage rates can change in a recovering economy, and why “floating” a rate … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Attention Housing Professionals! - 05/13/11 09:26 PM
Would anyone in this industry argue with the fact that we are “standing in the fire” and experiencing unprecedented times in our industry?
In fact, it’s probably safe to say that every one of us is very concerned and frustrated about the mortgage industry and the barrage of federal regulations that claim to protect the consumer. Do you find yourself spending a lot of time trying to keep up with all the new regulations and disclosures?
Are you shocked and outraged that the “BIG BANKS” have been excluded from the new rules and continue to try to squeeze the … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Rising Retail Sales Threaten Low Mortgage Rates... - 05/13/11 09:23 PM
 
Another day, another piece of evidence that the U.S. economy is expanding.
Thursday, the Census Bureau released the April Retail Sales report. Excluding cars and auto parts, retail receipts rose for the 10th straight month and, at $321 billion, reached an all-time high.
Retail sales account for roughly half of consumer spending, and roughly one-third of the economy overall.
For home buyers and rate shoppers in Laguna Beach , the sales figures have positive and negative implications.
On the positive side, more retail sales suggests more confidence in the U.S. economy. This can spark a growth cycle that benefits the country, … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Foreclosure Filings Fall To 40-Month Low! - 05/12/11 05:05 PM
 
Foreclosure activity continues to drop nationwide.
Based on data from foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings nationwide fell below 220,000 in April 2011, a 9 percent decrease from March.
A “foreclosure filing” is defined as any foreclosure-related action including Notice of Default, Scheduled Auction, or Bank Repossession.
April marks the seventh straight month in which foreclosure filings have dropped and total filings are down more than one-third year-over-year.
One reason why filings are down is that banks are letting more time pass between delinquency and foreclosure, exploring alternative courses of actions such as short sales and loan modifications. It now takes, … (5 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Most ARMs Now Resetting are under 3%! - 05/11/11 06:07 PM

When a mortgage applicants chooses an adjustable-rate mortgage over a fixed-rate one, he accepts a risk that — at some point in the future — the mortgage’s interest rate will rise. Lately, though, that hasn’t been the outcome.
Since mid-2010, conforming mortgages have adjusted below their initial “teaser” rate consistently, giving homeowners in California and nationwide reason to ride their respective adjustable-rate mortgages out.
For example, this month, conforming 7-year and 5-year ARMs are adjusting near 3.011 percent based on the most common loan terms of 2004-2006. It’s because of how adjustable-rate mortgages are structured.
Adjustable-rate mortgages follow a defined … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: What To Fix Before You List! - 05/10/11 07:15 PM
With housing prices down across the country, there are a lot of homeowners in Laguna Beach barely breaking even on their respective home sales. Some are even losing money.
You may find yourself in that position, too; wanting to sell, but worried about bringing cash to your own closing.
It creates an interesting dilemma. You want your home to “show nicely” relative to comparable properties, but you don’t want to invest big dollars that may never be recouped into upgrades or renovations. So what do you do?
The answer is simple. Do the bare minimum.
From an advice piece in the Wall … (4 comments)

mortgage interest rates: How low will Mortgage Interest Rates Go? - 05/09/11 08:03 PM
Mortgage markets improved last week on a bevy of economic and geopolitical news. Conforming mortgage rates in Laguna Beach improved, falling to their lowest levels of 2011.
It’s a welcome development for home buyers and rate shoppers nationwide. Mortgage rates were expected to rise throughout most of this year.
There were four big stories that contributed to falling rates last week.
The first was the news that Osama bin Laden was killed. The news was announced over the weekend, and by the time markets opened Monday morning, the price of oil was already falling. Falling oil prices reduce inflationary pressures on … (4 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Foreclosures And Short Sales Distorting “Home Price Trackers” - 05/08/11 02:00 PM

In an echo of February’s Case-Shiller Index report, the government’s own home price-tracker — the Home Price Index — showed home values slipping between January and February 2011.
The Federal Home Finance Agency data had home values down 1.6 percent nationwide in February, on average, marking the fourth straight month in which prices fell. 
Furthermore, all 9 regions posted losses from the month prior:
Mountain Region : -3.7% from January East South Central : -0.6% from January South Atlantic : -0.9% from January New England : -2.0% from January Before you draw conclusions, however, note that the data at which we’re looking … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Is Job Growth Returning To “Normal” Levels? - 05/05/11 05:48 PM
Be prepared for Friday morning. Mortgage rates and home affordability could worsen quickly. At 8:30 AM ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its April Non-Farm Payrolls report and momentum has been strong.
The monthly jobs report is a market-mover and analysts expect that 196,000 new jobs were added last month. If those expectations are exceeded — by even a little — Wall Street would take it mean “economic strength” and the stock market would be boosted.
Too bad for rate shoppers, though; a move like that would also lead to higher mortgage rates throughout California. This is because, coming out of a … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Mortgage Rates Poised To Change! - 05/03/11 07:59 PM
Among the most challenging aspects of shopping for a mortgage is how rates change constantly. It’s hard to pin them down.
For example, in 2011, mortgage rates have expired every 3-and-a-half hours, on average. That’s fast.
There’s two main catalysts for changing mortgage rates.
The first can be grouped as ”scheduled events”; the planned release of market data which includes the Existing Home Sales report, or a scheduled government statement such as when the Federal Open Market Committee meets. When the outcomes of these event-types either exceed, or fall short, of Wall Street’s expectations, mortgage markets react.
Home buyers and rate shoppers in … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: What's up with Interest Rates? - 05/02/11 04:24 PM
Mortgage markets improved last week overall. Bigger concerns for Eurozone debt combined with lesser concerns for domestic inflation to push U.S. mortgage rates lower.
Last week marked the 3rd consecutive week through which conforming mortgage rates dropped, the longest such streak since February.
Mortgage rates in Laguna Beach are now scraping their lowest levels of the year.
A few interesting stories developed last week.
First, the Federal Open Market Committee met and voted to hold the Fed Funds Rate within its target range of 0.000-0.250. In its post-meeting press release, the FOMC said that inflation has been “pushed up” in recent … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Where are rates going this week? - 04/25/11 01:36 PM
Mortgage markets improved slightly through last week’s holiday-shortened trading sessions. Better-than-expected housing data led mortgage rates higher Tuesday and Wednesday, but rates retreated Thursday morning in advance of Good Friday.
Markets were closed Thursday afternoon and Friday. They re-open this morning.
Conforming mortgage rates in California ended last week unchanged overall. It’s a strange outcome considering that Standard & Poor’s issued a downgrade on U.S. debt Monday.
In most instances, a debt downgrade would lead investors away from a particular group of securities — in this case, a group that includes mortgage-backed bonds. However, Wall Street reacted in the opposite.
When … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Demand Is Rising, Supplies Are Falling : Home Prices Set To Rise? - 04/21/11 05:36 PM
Home resales rose 4 percent last month, according to the March Existing Home Sales report. A total of 5.1 million homes were sold on an annualized, seasonally-adjusted basis.
The strong results re-establish the national, long-term trend toward rising home resales.
March marked the 6th month out of eight in which sales volume has increased and sales are up 32 percent from July 2010 lows.
Home supply has resumed its downward trajectory, too.
At the current pace of sales, the entire home resale inventory would be depleted in 8.4 months. This is 0.1 months faster as compared to February, and a full month … (4 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Building Permits Rise In All 4 Regions - 04/20/11 03:47 PM
According to the Census Bureau, seasonally-adjusted, single-family Housing Starts rebounded in March, increasing 8 percent over February’s 2-year low.
We can’t put too much faith in the data, however, because for the second straight month, the government reports that the data’s margin of error — 15 percent – exceeds its actual measurement.
As written in the footnotes, there’s no “statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change [in Housing Starts] is different from zero.”
In other words, single-family Housing Starts may have dropped up to 7 percent last month, or may have increased by as much as 22 percent. We won’t know for … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: As Buyer Traffic Grows, Homebuilder Confidence Slips - 04/19/11 05:01 PM

Homebuilder confidence is falling — a good sign for buyers of newly-built homes in and around Pelican Hill.
According to the National Association of Homebuilders, the Housing Market Index slipped one point to 16 in April. It’s the 5th time in 6 months that the index read 16 — a figure exactly in line with the 1-year average, but still considered “poor”. The Housing Market Index reports on a scale of 1-100.
Values of 50 or better representing “favorable conditions”. Values below 50 are considered “unfavorable”.
It’s been 5 years since the Housing Market Index read north of 50.
As an … (2 comments)