Arizona Real Estate Notebook

According to Freddie Mac; “Long-term fixed mortgage rates trended up for a third week, bringing rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages back to their levels of last November,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Refinancing activities, which had surged to a 12-month high in January, according to Freddie Mac’s monthly […]

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According to Freddie Mac; “Long-term mortgage rates were little changed this week, largely in sync with the movements in the Treasury bond yields during the same time,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Additionally, economic news released in the past week showed that the economy continues to be weak.

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According to Freddie Mac; “Mortgage rates ended their four-week descent this week, with average rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages coming up by about 0.2 percentage points,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.” This increase completely erased the previous week’s decline. The movement in fixed mortgage rates was broadly […]

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Spectacular interest rate decrease! When interest rates go down, it’s good for both home buyers and home sellers. According to Freddie Mac; “Economic news released last week confirmed the weak condition of the housing market. Housing starts fell further in December to 1.006 million units, the slowest pace since May 1991,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice […]

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I love that graph! Rates are below 6.0% again and the outlook is good for the future. (See quote below.) When prices go up, it’s good for sellers. When prices go down, it’s good for buyers. It’s different for interest rates. When interest rates goes up, it’s bad for both buyers and […]

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The Mortgage Curmudgeon looks at these so called “Home Ownership Accelerator” loans. [This type of loan] is overhyped as an early payoff tool, because the prospect of paying off early captures people’s attention. However, while the intra-monthly interest savings described earlier are real, they don’t add up to much. To pay off a 30-year loan in […]

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“Higher productivity growth in the third quarter coupled with a larger-than-expected decline in consumer confidence in November sent mixed signals to the current state of the economy,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “As a result, there were no definite upward or downward pressures on mortgage rates this week.

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“Reports of weaker consumer spending in September and a decline in manufacturing activity in October kept mortgage rates at bay this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Rates for long-term mortgages were little changed while rates for ARMs fell following the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cut.

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“October’s consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since October 2005 as mortgage rates continued to decline this week to their lowest level in almost six months,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Continued market concerns about weaker economic growth and further declines in the housing market have kept mortgage rates […]

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“Market concerns about slower economic growth over the next few months allowed mortgage rates to drift lower from last week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “How much of a drag the housing slump will be on the economy remains unknown. Additionally, recent reports suggest some regional manufacturing weakness […]

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“Both economic indicators and mortgage rates came in mixed this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “While retail sales were stronger in September, consumer confidence fell below market expectations in October. Moreover, both the core consumer price index and producer prices for September remained contained. “In his October 15th speech, Fed […]

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“Mortgage rates eased slightly this week following three weeks of increases. The initial effects of the credit market turmoil that began in August are starting to emerge in housing statistics,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “New home sales in August fell to the slowest pace in more than seven years […]

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I’ve been fascinated by mortgage fraud and what’s going on in the mortgage industry. I found the blog Blown Mortgage last night and really liked the insiders angle.

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How can that be when the Federal Reserve Bank lowered interest rates? It is a good time to reflect on what drives mortgage rates. Mortgage Backed Securities are the key to mortgage interest rates. Obviously the rates are affected by many different factors and this last week despite the lowering of interest rates, the stock market […]

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Don’t believe everything you read. Despite all the “sub-prime meltdown” excitement, interest rates have fallen almost a half a percentage point since mid-July! If you have good credit you can now buy a house and get the best interest rate in several months. “Interest rates on prime conforming loans fell across the board in the past […]

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