Rates on the most popular types of mortgages declined again according to HSH.com's Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar. The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by eleven basis points (0.11 percent) to 4.38 percent. Conforming 5/1 Hybrid ARM rates decreased by only four basis points, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wraparound weekly survey at an average 3.27 percent.

"Mortgage rates have slipped to levels not seen in a few months," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com. "While this is great news for mortgage shoppers, what's not great is that it comes as the government has ground to a halt, making it hard for mortgage lenders to get verification of tax returns or even Social Security numbers. This is likely to slow the loan approval process."

Borrowers involved in the mortgage process should discuss timelines and expectations with their lender and inquire about longer commitments, longer rate locks and extension policies for each.

"If the government shutdown is only for a few days, it should be minimally disruptive," adds Gumbinger. "Most loans are closed toward the end of the month, so a few days delay in getting documentation shouldn't derail too many deals. However, if it persists for several weeks, disruptions and backlogs are likely to multiply."

Below is the average mortgage rates and points for conforming residential mortgages for the week ending October 1 according to HSH.com:

Conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
Average rate: 4.38 percent
Average points: 0.17

Conforming 5/1-year adjustable-rate mortgage
Average rate: 3.27 percent
Average points: 0.12

Average mortgage rates and points for conforming residential mortgages for the previous week ending September 24 were, according to HSH.com:

Conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
Average Rate: 4.49 percent
Average Points: 0.20

Conforming 5/1-year adjustable-rate mortgage
Average Rate: 3.31 percent
Average Points: 0.12

Methodology
The Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar reports the average rates and points offered on conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and conforming 5/1 ARMs. The weekly mortgage rate survey covers a large sample of mortgage lenders and is conducted over a Wednesday-to-Tuesday cycle, with data released every Wednesday. HSH.com’s survey helps consumers find the best rates on home loans in changing market conditions. Unlike mortgage rate surveys that report average rates only, the Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar’s inclusion of both average rates and average points provides a more accurate view of mortgage terms currently offered by lenders.

Every week, HSH.com conducts a survey of mortgage rate data for a wide range of consumer mortgage products including ARMs, FHA-backed and jumbo mortgages, as well as home equity loans and lines of credit from hundreds of direct lenders in the U.S. For information on additional loan products, visit HSH.com.

About HSH.com
HSH.com is a trusted source of mortgage data, trends, news and analysis. Since 1979, HSH’s market research and commentary has helped homeowners, buyers and sellers make smart financial choices and save money on mortgage and home equity products. HSH.com, of Riverdale, N.J., is owned and operated by QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: QNST), one of the largest Internet marketing and media companies in the world. QuinStreet is committed to providing consumers and businesses with the information they need to research, find and select the products, services and brands that best meet their needs. The company is a leader in ethical marketing practices. For more information, please visit QuinStreet.com.

Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11187233.htm

 Mortgage rates have been rising since late spring, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke first announced the possibility of a reduction in the $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program. The Fed has been the primary purchaser of mortgage-backed securities since late 2008, creating constant demand for these products, which helped push mortgage rates to record lows. Mortgage rates spiked at the end of June when the Fed signaled that paring back of bond-buying could begin in September. And rates have remained elevated since then, but the Fed’s unexpected decision to not scale back on its program will likely result in a break from rising mortgage rates. Instead, rates are likely to drop at least for the next month, says Keith Gumbinger, vice president at mortgage-info website HSH.com.




For home buyers who are about to get a mortgage, the announcement should result in lower rates. The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell slightly to 4.64% by end of day Wednesday, down from 4.68% for the week ended Sept. 13, according to HSH.com. Gumbinger says rates could drop by as much as 10 basis points, the equivalent of 0.10 percentage point, in total by the end of the week, which would bring average rates to 4.58% and they could drop to as low as 4.48% on average by mid-October, especially if the economic reports released during this period are weaker than expected. At 4.48%, rates would be back to where they were in the beginning of July.




A break in rising rates is unlikely to last long though. It’s unknown whether the Federal Reserve will change course at its meeting in late October, and mortgage analysts say it’s possible that rates could rise in the days leading up to the Fed’s next announcement. It also remains to be seen what will happen when the Fed starts to exit the market. More private investors could step in to purchase mortgage-backed securities, but they might not buy as much as the Fed currently is. Less demand could result in higher rates. If economic data remains weak and if the Fed presses on with its bond-buying program into November, 30-year mortgage rates could drop by as much as 20 basis points, or 0.20 percentage points, falling to 4.28% on average, says Gumbinger. 




 Of course, the prediction of lower rates to come is based on many assumptions. Rather than trying to time the market, mortgage applicants who want to proceed with their home purchase over the next few weeks should find out if their lender offers any options that would allow them to tap into lower rates—if such rates materialize. Lenders often offer what’s called a float-down option: If home buyers get to closing and rates have dropped below the rate they were quoted, a float down allows them to get that lower rate instead. Most float downs kick in if rates drop anywhere from one-eighth to a quarter of a percentage point. In most cases, borrowers will have to pay a nonrefundable fee of roughly a quarter-percentage point of the total dollar amount of the mortgage.




Beyond mortgage rates, it remains to be seen if a delay in tapering will impact home sales. Home sales have been rising for much of this year as buyers rushed to lock in mortgage rates before they climbed further. But as mortgage rates have increased, home sales have started to stall. New home sales, which are tallied at the signing of the contract, tumbled 13.4% in July from a month prior—the steepest drop in three years, according to the Commerce Department’s latest data. Existing-home sales, which are a lagging indicator that tally transactions that went to closing, also suggest a drop in the pace of home buying as rates have risen. Existing-home sales increased 1.7% in August from a month prior, according to data released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors. In contrast, July sales rose 6.5% from a month prior




Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bernanke-gives-home-buyers-a-breather-2013-09-20




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Average interest rates on the popular 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage held steady this week, giving a respite to potential homebuyers who have seen rates creep up for much of the year.

The average rate of 4.57 percent was unchanged from last week, Freddie Mac reported in its weekly survey Thursday. A year ago, the average interest rate was 3.55 percent.

Also unchanged this week was the 3.59 percent average interest rate on a 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage. A year ago, average rate was 2.85 percent.
 
Despite the pause, most economists expect home loan rates to edge closer to 5 percent by year's end, affecting affordability. Only four months ago, in early May, the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.35 percent.

Applications to refinance existing mortgages fell 20 percent last week from the previous week, to its lowest level since June 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Meanwhile, home-purchase mortgage applications last week were down 3 percent from the previous week.

The slowdown in mortgage activity, particularly the refinancings that drove the industry when rates were low but few were buying homes, has triggered unemployment in the housing industry. Several of the largest lenders, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, have laid off thousands of employees from their home mortgage businesses.


source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-mortgage-rates-20130912,0,497939.story

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 Average U.S. rates for fixed mortgages declined this week but stayed close to their highest levels in two years.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan fell to 4.51 percent. That's down from 4.58 percent last week, the highest since July 2011.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage dipped to 3.54 percent from 3.60 percent, also the highest since July 2011.

Rates have risen more than a full percentage point since May when Chairman Ben Bernanke first signaled that the Federal Reserve might reduce its bond purchases later this year. The purchases have helped keep long-term interest rates low.

Mortgage rates remain low by historical standards. But the sudden spike in rates could slow the housing recovery's momentum.

U.S. sales of newly built homes dropped 13.4 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 394,000, the government said last week. That's the lowest level in nine months.

Also in July, fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes for the second straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors. Still, the decline has been modest and the level of pending homes sales remains close to a 6 ½ -year high reached in May.

Mortgage rates have been rising because they tend to follow the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. The yield also has surged on speculation that the Fed's stimulus will slow. But the rate on the 10-year note declined this week to 2.78 percent from 2.90 percent last week.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage declined to 0.7 point from 0.8 point. The fee for a 15-year loan was unchanged at 0.7 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell to 2.64 percent from 2.67 percent. The fee slipped to 0.4 point from 0.5 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable mortgage rose to 3.24 percent from 3.21 percent. The fee held at 0.5 point.

source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/average-us-rate-30-year-mortgage-451-pct-20107166

Karen Zoeller wasn't too worried about rising mortgage rates when she went house-hunting. But the 25% down payment requirement for an investment property took her aback.

So she pulled a old trick out of her bag: an adjustable rate mortgage. An ARM required just 20% down, with a 4.25% interest rate, about three-quarters of a point less than fixed mortgages being offered to investment buyers, she said.

"I don't intend to hold the property for longer than five years,'' said Zoeller, an intensive-care nurse from Arlington, Mass., who closed on the house Tuesday. "I can use the extra 5% to put windows in.''

 CHICAGO (MarketWatch)—Mortgage rates used to be the least of home buyers’ worries. But a recent interest-rate spike is turning the factor of rising home-loan rates into a widespread concern.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.37% for the week ending July 18, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates. That’s down slightly from the average a week earlier, but up more than a percentage point from early May.

While it isn’t yet known how the rate increase may have affected overall housing sales, the volatility been a reality check, a reminder to would-be buyers that low rates won’t be around forever, said Jessica Edwards, Coldwell Banker Real Estate consumer specialist.

It’s causing others to back out of deals in progress. 
 For example, two of Ellie McIntire’s short-sale transactions have fallen through the past couple of weeks. The Baltimore-area real-estate agent, who specializes in short sales, said that rising rates are to blame.

In a short sale, the sellers owe more on the mortgage than the home is currently worth, and their lender agrees to accept less than the full mortgage payoff at closing. In McIntire’s cases, after waiting for at least 60 days for the banks to accept or reject their offers, the buyers decided they couldn’t afford to wait any longer and pulled out of the process, she said. Without an agreed upon contract price, they couldn’t secure financing.

“They had gotten to the 4% [30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate] mark and decided they wanted to find a home that was a standard transaction,” not a short sale, McIntire said. With a traditional sale, the home seller approves the offer, not the bank, so the process can move more quickly.

Forty-one percent of home buyers said rising mortgage rates were their No. 1 worry, according to a survey of more than 2,000 people conducted in late June by real-estate website Trulia. 

 Of the respondents who plan to buy a home someday, 13% said a mortgage rate of 4% would be too high and 20% said a mortgage rate of 5% was their limit. Another 22% said rates would have to reach 6% to discourage them from buying a home
What a higher rate means for your bottom line

The monthly payment on a $200,000, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 3.35% (what it averaged in early May) is $881. When the rate goes up to 4.46% (what it averaged in late June), the monthly payment is $1,009, according to calculations from Trulia’s chief economist, Jed Kolko.

Or consider this rule of thumb: For every $100,000 borrowed, a percentage point increase in rate means an additional $83 a month in your monthly mortgage payment, said David Zugheri, executive vice president at Envoy Mortgage in Houston.

Is that enough to stop someone from buying a home? Maybe not. But it will likely make someone stutter and reconsider the purchase, he said.

Even a smaller jump can be felt in a borrower’s monthly budget. 

 Kay Brungs closed on a one-bedroom condo unit in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood on July 3. When she started the process of financing her purchase, she qualified for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate below 4%. She wanted to lock then, but her loan officer at the time told her to hold off, that lower rates could be coming. In the meantime, rates jumped, and she ended up with a 4.23% rate at closing.

Now she’s paying for it.

“It’s not monumental or game changing, but it’s $45 month that I’m not going to have,” Brungs said.

That’s also $540 a year, or $2,700 over the course of five years.
Rates could start to move more gradually

Of course, no one knows exactly what rates will do in the weeks and months ahead. That’s the scary part.

The comforting part is that while rates will most certainly trend upward in the long term, they might not reach 5% with great speed, said Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, a mortgage shopping website.

“What we expect is for rates to move up to around 4.5% to 5% in the next 12 to 18 months,” she said. “What the federal government is aiming to get to is a stable, less volatile interest rate level.”

What’s more, many in the mortgage industry think the Federal Reserve may still be buying bonds, helping mortgage rates to stay low, for the next three years or so, Zugheri said. So while rates may be higher than earlier this year, there’s a good chance they’ll stay low for a while, relative to their historic averages. (It’s worth noting that from 2003 through 2006, generally strong years for the housing market, the average rate for 30-year fixed mortgages generally hovered between 5.5% and 6%.)

It’s also worth noting that while fixed-rate loans have experienced large swings, adjustable-rate mortgages haven’t been quite as volatile, said T.J. Freeborn, mortgage professional at Discover Home Loans. People planning to live in a home for no more than five to seven years might view an ARM as a good choice, since they will likely move before the rate resets, she said.
If you’re in the market

Don’t panic if you’re home shopping right now. Rates might not be at the bottom, but they’re still very low.

Just make sure you budget for interest-rate fluctuations, Zugheri said.

“The best advice I could give to a would-be home purchaser is, when factoring your monthly payment, throw on an extra $100 per $100,000 borrowed…and mentally be prepared for that,” he said. “What it might do is drive you to buy a less expensive home, it might drive you to put more money down, it may change your behavior and you may start looking at different neighborhoods.”

And make sure you trust the loan officer you’re working with.

In retrospect, Brungs thinks if she switched sooner she would have locked a lower mortgage rate. Don’t be afraid to move on if you’re not satisfied with the person you’ve picked to originate your loan.

Better yet, by getting preapproved before you’ve even started home shopping, you can get a sense for how the lender treats you and decide whether you want to stick with them until closing, Lantz said. Pay attention to how responsive they are to your calls and how reliable they are, and make sure you like their style of explaining the mortgage process, she said.

Source: MarketWatch

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The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly report on mortgage applications this morning, noting a drop of 2.6% in the group’s seasonally adjusted composite index, following a drop of 4% for the previous week. The pace of mortgage loan interest rate increases slowed, however, as some rates fell for some types of loans for the first time in several weeks.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index increased by 1% from the most recent report. On an unadjusted basis, the composite index rose by 22% week-over-week. The unadjusted purchase index increased by 26% for the week, and is up about 5% year-over-year.

The MBA’s refinance index fell by 1%, after sliding 4% in the previous week.

The share of refinancings fell to 63%, remaining at its lowest level in more than two years. Adjustable rate mortgage loans account for 7% of all applications, flat with the prior week.

The average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained unchanged at 4.68%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased from 4.86% to 4.81%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell from 3.76% to 3.3.70%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan fell from 3.40% to 3.39%.

Refinancings continue to slide, but the slight decline in mortgage loan rates is good news for buyers — and sellers. As more inventory comes on the market, home price increases will slow or reverse, making home purchases more affordable as well.

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San Diego, CA (PRWEB) July 15, 2013

Blue Loan Services is a full service mortgage company that has been providing California home loan borrowers with the best wholesale home purchase and refinance rates, as well as access to the most trusted California mortgage lenders and specialized loan products for many years. The company’s website offers a number of tools that homeowners and home buyers can use to find the best mortgage scenarios for their unique financial situations and lifestyles, as well as news on the latest mortgage trends and other stories that affect mortgage rates and home prices. With the surprising sudden increase in mortgage rates last month, many borrowers are asking the question “Will mortgage rates go down again?” The answer to this, according to Blue Loan Services is: not any time soon. Mortgage interest rates are expected to rise rather than fall; however Blue Loan Services can help borrowers to benefit from the best available interest rates regardless of how mortgage rates move.

The company explains that the recent mortgage interest rate increase that happened so fast was the result of investors panicking when Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, made statements that seemed to imply that the Fed would be starting to wrap up some parts of their stimulus program. This turned out not to be the case, and later the Federal Reserve clarified that the statements were meant to be taken as good news about the improvements in the economy. However, as an article from the New York Times published last June 20th reports: “…the investors whose decisions spread Fed policy through the economy, responded as if the news had been grim. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index took its worst two-day dive since November 2011 and has lost 5 percent of its value in the last month. Wells Fargo, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, raised its advertised rate on 30-year loans to [4.5 percent from 3.9 percent in the same period.”

Since then home mortgage interest rates have stabilized, but they are not expected to go back down to their former low levels. Those who have been planning to purchase a home or refinance before the increase, however, should not put off their plans just yet. The experts at Blue Loan Services point out that rates are still quite low, just a few points above the record lows seen last year and the beginning of this year, so those who wish to take advantage of these rates should do so as soon as possible. The company’s reputation for fast loan closing times, coupled with their online application and documentation system which allows Blue Loan Services clients to quickly find and apply for the best loan products, can help homeowners and buyers in California to quickly lock in these still low rates before they get any higher. A review of this online system from a client living in Pleasanton says:

“I've been through the loan process at least 8 times, combined of both loans for home purchases and refinances. This is by far the smoothest and most easy-to-use electronic-approach I've ever had, mainly due to Brandon Blue's expertise and knowledge of the loan process, the quick response times via emails, as well as use of electronic copies of documents. I love how they set up the system, by using an online portal to upload all required documents and update the loan status throughout the loan process, and also the convenience of communicating through emails. Lastly, Brandon Blue was easy to work with.”