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2012 Mortgage Rate Trends

By Admin On December 28, 2012 · Add Comment · In Mortgage Rates

The tail end of 2011 saw mortgage rates break through the “they cannot go any lower” range of 4%.  Perhaps only marginally so, but 2011 closed with rates right at 3.96% according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

We’ll close out 2012 with rates being roughly 3.375%.

So what does that .625% mean to [...]

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Obama’s Reelection & Mortgage Rates

By Admin On November 30, 2012 · Add Comment · In Mortgage News

We’ve had a few weeks to digest Obama’s reelection and the impact on mortgage rates.  

We immediately saw a stock market correction and that is, ordinarily, good news for mortgage rates.  That part did hold true as Freddie Mac’s weekly surveys following the election did show slightly lower rates.  The 30 Year Fixed touched [...]

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Calculating Mortgage Rates – What does volatility mean?

On October 27, 2012 By Admin

We are creeping up on an election.  In advance of elections, fiscal cliffs, or uncertainty abroad, mortgage rates tend to be exposed to more volatility than we’d otherwise see.  

Our friends over at Freddie Mac posted their survey for October 25th with rates on the 30 Year hovering around 3.41%.  So, let us round [...]

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30 Year v. 15 Year via “The Time Machine”

On September 30, 2012 By Admin

This is one of our favorite comparisons of the new era.

In September of 2007, mortgage rates were decent and the 30 Year was hovering around 6.38%.  Home prices were high with the Case-Shiller Index at about 193.

Currently, mortgage rates are low with the 30 Year tracking near 3.5%.  The 15 Year is even [...]

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August 2012–Mortgage Rates “Skyrocket”

On August 30, 2012 By Admin

Ok, “skyrocket” isn’t very fair.  

It has just been an amazing year with mortgage rates hovering in a long-term pattern that was just rounding errors from the lowest mortgage rates in history. 

So we’ve jumped up an eighth.  What’s the big deal about .125% you say?  Yeah, you’re right.  Current mortgage rates remain so [...]

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30 Year Fixed vs. 15 Year Fixed – A new record comparison

On July 26, 2012 By Admin

Our most recent mortgage comparison pits two familiar foes, the common 30 Year Fixed vs. 15 Year Fixed comparison, in an entirely new grudge match. 

This is nuts.  There’s probably a smarter word that an economist would use, but “nuts” seems to capture it better.  We’re using a sub-3.5% 30 Year rate and a sub-3% [...]

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Mortgage Rates & Factors

On June 15, 2012 By Admin

Well, for now, crisis has been averted.  Greek elections say the pro-bailout New Democracy party win and that staves off a subsequent post detailing a post-Greece European Union.  

The only real problem is the details.  Oh, and reality.  Greece must now implement austerity and then find the money to make payments on the new [...]

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May Mortgage Rates Trend Lower

On May 31, 2012 By Admin

Just a quick look at May 2012 mortgage rates.  In brief summary…another month, another record.

May saw the 30 Year open near 3.88% and trend even lower, closing at 3.75% according to our friends over at Freddie Mac.

The 5/1 ARM nominally dipped with the national average dipping a few hundredths of a percent, but most borrowers [...]

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30 Year Fixed v. 5/1 ARM with Current Mortgage Rates

On April 30, 2012 By Admin

From December of 2010 to present, we have seen a fairly odd occurence in mortgage rates.  Namely, the spread, or difference, between a 30 Year Fixed and 5/1 ARM has been over a point. 

Historically, that\’s out of whack.  In 2009, we were talking about an inverted yield curve.  That is when short term money, [...]

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What a difference a few years makes…

On March 31, 2012 By Admin

Wow.  What a difference a few years can make for first time home buyers. 

Just roll back the clock five years.  The S&P was hovering around 1,400, we hadn’t even seen the Great Recession, and mortgage rates were humming along just over 6%. 

Fast forward to now, we’re seeing the S&P hover near 1,400, we’ve [...]

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