San Diego Homeowners Frozen Out Of The Housing Market
Bob Schwartz, brokerforyou.com
“If a potential buyer believes that housing prices may fall more, then mortgage rates of 3-5 percent won’t attract home buyers. Rates could even drop to zero and it might not outweigh consumers’ negative perceptions”
Or, more likely, consumers still couldn’t act on such low rates if they can’t sell their existing homes. This is is the fact the interest rate geeks don’t seem to get; rates alone don’t govern consumer behavior, some homeowners are frozen out of the market by circumstances…
Home Mortgage Rates Near 40 Year Lows
home mortgage rates
Freddie Mac’s latest weekly report on the cost of financing a home purchase showed 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropping from 4.69 percent to 4.58 percent, a new record in a data series that goes back almost 40 years.
Fifteen-year mortgage rates have been setting records for more than a month now, last week dropping from 4.13 percent to 4.04 percent.
San Diego attorney
Home Mortgage Rates Fall
home mortgage rates
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist said: “Rates for both the 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were the lowest in six weeks; initial rates on 5/1 hybrid ARMs hit an all-time low since they were added to the survey in the beginning of 2005. The homebuyer tax credit helped support home sales in March, and anecdotal reports point to strong April sales as well. Pending existing home sales rose for the second consecutive month in March to the strongest pace since October 2009, just before the original deadline for the credit, based on figures published by the National Association of Realtors.”
Low Rates – Homebuyers Tax Credit
homebuyers tax credit
The Fed did what they set out to do – purchasing $1.25 Trillion in Mortgage Backed Securities, and succeeding in their plan to lower home loan rates and help stabilize the housing sector. And even though they stretched out the length of the program slightly – in order to soften the impact of the end of the program – the training wheels are now off, the safety net is gone, and home loan rates have already moved higher. In fact – as the Fed will now gradually become a seller of their massive holdings of Mortgage Backed Securities – rates are very likely to continue to move higher still.
Home Mortgage Rates to Increase
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home mortgage interest rates
Early last year, the Federal Reserve began purchasing mortgage-backed securities, which helped maintain low interest rates for consumers. However, the Fed’s purchase program ended in March, and some analysts forecast interest rates to increase throughout the rest of the year. One financial publishing company predicts that rates likely will rise to 5.5 percent by mid-2010 and close the year at 5.75 percent to 6 percent. The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) projects rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages to average 5.6 percent this year.
Sacramento real estate lawyers
Fed Leaves Key Interest Rate Unchanged
brokerforyou.com Bob Schwartz
The Federal Reserve announced it will maintain its target for the federal funds rate in the 0 percent to 0.25 percent range, and expects economic conditions to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period of time. “Information … suggests that economic activity continues to strengthen and that deterioration in the labor market is abating,” the Fed said in a prepared statement. Read more 