Kenneth Bargers's Blog Posts Tagged 'rates' (19)

Article by: Daily Real Estate News (March 23, 2012)

30-Year Mortgage Rates Edge Above 4%

Mortgage rates moved up quite a bit this week, following higher bond yields and improving economic data, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.

“Mortgage rates are catching up with increases in U.S. Treasury bond yields, placing the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate above 4 percent for the first time since the end of October 2011,” says…

Article by: Daily Real Estate News; March 16, 2012

30-Year Rates Stay Below 4%, Affordability High

Mortgage rates are staying low by historical standards, despite inching slightly higher this week following a positive job report and increasing bond yields, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.

“An upbeat employment report for February caused U.S. Treasury bond yields to increase over the week, and mortgage rates followed,”…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices ended slightly higher last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates lower. Stocks were stronger as the DOW surged higher by 291 points Monday and 490 points Wednesday. The Fed stepped in to help the EU deal with their debt crisis through some liquidity moves along with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank. The moves generally helped equities across the globe.…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices ended slightly lower last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates higher. Weak stocks and continued Euro debt concerns helped rates improve early in the week. The data generally helped rates as well. Q3 GDP disappointed with 2% increase compared to the expected 2.5% mark. The Treasury auctions had strong demand and also helped the overall bond market. The shortened and thin trading conditions fortunately did not result in any extreme…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices ended lower last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates slightly higher. The producer price index and core rate both came in lower than expected and helped rates improve earlier in the week. Unfortunately, retail sales beat expectations which countered the PPI data. Poor auctions in France and Spain fanned the Euro debt concerns which helped rates a bit. However, housing starts showed a surprise increase and weekly jobless claims were…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices ended lower last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates slightly higher. The early portion of the week was relatively tame compared to recent trading conditions. Most of the weakness came Thursday following stronger than expected weekly employment figures. Weekly jobless claims came in at 390k, better than the expected 400k mark and generally not bond friendly. Continuing claims came in at 3,615k, which also beat estimates. The…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices ended higher last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates lower. The financial markets remained extremely volatile. Most of the rate improvements came early in the week following Japan’s intervention to weaken the yen and Greek Prime Minister Papandreou’s indication that budget cuts would be put to a public vote. Unfortunately some of those rate improvements were erased when Papandreou retreated on the vote and the European Central Bank…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices ended last week lower, which pushed mortgage interest rates considerably higher. Stock strength Thursday along with advancements in the Eurozone battle to shore the debt crisis resulted in a terrible week for mortgage interest rates. Stocks remained volatile with 100 plus point swings from day to day but a strong 340-point surge in the DOW Thursday resulted in rate increases of 3/4 of a discount point on that day alone. Mortgage interest…

Mortgage applications for home purchases and refinancing increased last week, as more buyers and home owners rushed to take advantage of ultra-low interest rates.

Mortgage applications for purchase — a gauge for future home buying — jumped 6.4 percent last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The increase helped send overall mortgage applications soaring 4.9 percent last week. Refinance activity, which accounted for 77.3 percent of all mortgage applications,…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices ended last week near unchanged, which kept mortgage interest rates relatively in check. Trading was choppy with some rate improvements Tuesday, which unfortunately were erased Wednesday and Thursday. Stock strength made it difficult for mortgage bonds to gain any traction. Higher than expected producer price, housing starts, and Philadelphia Fed data also made it difficult for rates to improve.

The employment cost index and PCE core…

MARKET COMMENT  Mortgage bond prices fell last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates higher. The roller coaster ride of investor funds entering and exiting the stock and bond markets continues as economic uncertainty dominates trading. The losses continued as foreign demand for US debt instruments waned. Stocks were volatile but generally saw improvements on the week. Retail sales rose a stronger than expected 1.1%.

Mortgage bonds ended the week worse by about…

After posting record lows the last few weeks, mortgage rates inched higher this week, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. Yet, rates still remain near 60-year lows.

“An employment report that was better than market expectations helped to lift long-term Treasury bond yields and mortgage rates as well,” Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, notes. In September, the economy added 103,000 workers; however, the unemployment rate still remained high at 9.1…

MARKET COMMENT Mortgage bond prices fell last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates considerably higher. There was a strong sell-off following the stronger than expected ADP employment figures. The losses continued as the weekly jobs data Thursday and the payrolls component of the employment report Friday both came in stronger than expected. Stocks were volatile but generally saw improvements on the week. Mortgage bonds ended the week worse by over a full discount…

MARKET COMMENT   Mortgage bond prices fell last week, which pushed mortgage interest rates higher. There was a strong sell-off throughout the beginning of the week following the prior week’s run up in prices. European authorities efforts to construct a new rescue framework dominated the news and resulted in a reversal of the flight to quality buying of US debt instruments. Stocks were extremely volatile throughout the week but surged higher at times, which didn’t help…

Mortgage applications increased last week, with both refinancing and home purchase demand increasing, the Mortgage Bankers Association says in its weekly report.

Applications for U.S. home mortgages increased 9.3 percent for the week ending Sept. 23, according to MBA’s seasonally adjusted index.

Refinancing applications made up the biggest part of that increase, rising 11.2 percent last week. Loan requests for home purchases increased 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, mortgage…