Mortgage Industry and Economic News

Mortgage Rate Continues to Dance Around 5 Percent; Tacoma News Tribune Interest on 30-year fixed home loans dropped below the 5 percent threshold this week, reports Freddie Mac. The rate slipped to 4.97 percent after averaging 5.01 percent last week and 5.16 percent a year ago. Long-term mortgage interest set a record low of 4.71 percent in early December and has hovered near 5 percent since -- largely due to a Federal Reserve MBS purchase program, which is slated to end on March 31. Home Sales 27 Percent Higher in 4th Quarter Over Last Year; USA Today The National Association of Realtors reports that home resales soared 27.2 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.03 million. The gain was credited to favorable interest rates and a first-time home buyer tax break, with 67 out of 151 metro areas registering increases. "There's a growing body of evidence that the housing market has stabilized," remarks Bernard Baumohl of the Economic Outlook Group. "The question is how quickly can it recover and will we bump along at the bottom for a couple of months?" Rates on 30-year mortgages average under 5%; USA Today Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell slightly this week, dipping below 5%, the mortgage financier Freddie Mac said Thursday. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.97% this week, down from an average of 5.01% last week. Last year at this time, the rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 5.16%, Freddie Mac said. Citi to let distressed homeowners stay for 6 months; USA Today Citigroup Inc. plans to let homeowners on the verge of foreclosure stay in their homes for six months — if they turn over the deed to their property. Citi said Thursday it is launching the pilot program, dubbed "Foreclosure Alternatives," this week in Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio. Initially, about 1,000 homeowners are expected to participate. Citi may expand the program nationwide. Home Price Increases Spread to More Cities; Washington Post The National Association of Realtors reports that home prices rose in more than 40 percent of U.S. cities -- 67 of the 151 metro areas studied -- during the last three months of 2009. By comparison, prices climbed in just 20 percent of those markets during the third quarter. The U.S. median price dropped 4.1 percent to $172,900 -- the smallest annual price decline in over two years. Ellie Mae Integrates With Mortech; Housing Wire A new partnership brings together Ellie Mae's Encompass360 loan origination software with Mortech's Marksman customer lead management and product pricing engine software via ePass, a platform connecting third-party mortgage software with the Encompass technology. Although other PPE and lead management software products are already integrated into Encompass through ePass, Mortech says Marksman is the first to combine both functions. Home Buyers Rush to Take Advantage of Tax Credit Before It’s Gone; Ris Media Liv Mansfield is racing the clock, hoping to find and settle, or at least sign a purchase agreement, on a townhouse before the $6,500 tax credit for qualified repeat home buyers expires April 30, 2010. While the credit is not as important as staying in the Wallingford school district, where her younger daughter will enter sixth grade next fall, Mansfield says it will help make expenses associated with the move ‘a wash.’ “It will help with moving costs, and with getting this house ready for sale,” said Mansfield, who has lived in the five-bedroom split-level Colonial she bought with her former husband nine years ago.