Big News and Rate Update

Big news hit the mortgage industry today regarding the $8,000 tax credit available to first-time homebuyers. According to the Federal Housing Administration, first-time homebuyers can apply the new $8,000 tax credit toward the purchase costs of a FHA-insured home. This is hot of the presses and more details will be released soon.

Also, the Gross Domestic Product for the first quarter fell at an annual rate of 5.7%, which was better than initial estimates. This good news that the economy may by turning.

As we talked about we expected a rebound in bond prices. This started late yesterday and has continued in today.

I recommend floating today.

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Rates over 5%, What Happened???

Yesterday, Mortgage Bonds had their worst one-day performance since October. This increased interest rates to over 5%. The cause of this was added supply in the market from the Treasury auctions and the increased number of refinances.

In other news, Initial Jobless Claims were better than expectations, while New Home Sales were just under estimates.

We should see a rebound from these prices, because the market has overreacted. However at this point our hope is to get back below 5%.

I recommend floating today.

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BIG CHANGE

Well we knew at some point this day was going to come.

Mortgage bonds have been absolutely killed today, mainly because of a lot of positive economic news, including existing home sales. We have increased about 1/2% since this morning. Which means we are now over the 5% mark.

On the bright side the economy is showing good signs of improvement, and that is a positive for everyone.

I now recommend floating, because a little of this is "over reaction" by the markets.

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Rate Update

After starting down the stock market has rebounded today, at the expense of bonds and therefore mortgage rates.

The main reason for this swing is that we saw the biggest one month jump in consumer confidence in over 6 years.

I recommend locking today, stay tuned.

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Rate Update

Mortgage bonds are flat today, mainly because the stock market is seeing another nice gain. This comes on the news that B of A is receiving a strong buy from Goldman Sachs and Lowes posted positive earnings. The other item driving the stock market is oil prices going up for the summer driving season.

There are no economic reports set for release today and this has helped rates stay flat even with the increase in stocks.

We are back to our historic lows on mortgage rates. Remember we have hit this point 5 times earlier and haven’t been able to go lower. Because of this I recommend locking.

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Rate Update

Chairman Bernanke said last night that the results from the “stress test” are encouraging. This has helped calm both markets as money was flowing out of stocks and into bonds. This has helped interest rates come close to their lows, once again.
As we near the rate of 4.5% remember this is a floor that we have hit 4 times earlier and haven’t gone below. Because of this I recommend locking today.

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Rate Update

Well with the more positive job reports, bonds and therefore rates have a taken a hit the last few days. However we seem to be recovering a little today.

Stocks are also trading higher on the news of the job reports, and the Bank Stress test came out better than most people thought.

I recommend floating today, but things could change quickly. Have a great weekend.

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Rate Update

Well the stock market had a big day yesterday, and the other good news is that the bond market didn’t suffer because of it. Bonds are up again today which is good news for rates.

However the government stress test said that ten large banks need to raise capital to stay afloat in this recession. This has caused stocks to come down from yesterday’s high.

Again today I recommend floating.

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Rate Update

The stock market is testing a ceiling this morning. If stocks are able to push thru we may see another strong push in the markets. Otherwise the market may drop back. The bond market has a nice floor of support and this is good for interest rates.

Also Warren Buffet was on CNBC this morning and was very optimistic about the financial and housing markets. He has always been ahead of everyone else, so look for everyone else to jump on the bandwagon in another 6 months or so.

With the floor of support in rates, I recommend floating.

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Rate Update

Bonds have taken a pretty good hit in the later part of this week. As the stock market is improving money is coming out of bonds and into stocks. This has not been good for interest rates.

The Fed reported it has been purchasing Mortgage Backed Securities, however they are still not buying a lot of bonds on the lower end. Consumer Sentiment and other numbers came through within expectations.

In the mortgage industry May 1st is an important day. As Fannie and Freddie have mandated a new way to manage the appraisal process. Feel free to email me for more details.

I recommend floating as bonds are holding onto a floor of support.

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