Mortgage rates were higher again today, extending yesterday's movement following the FOMC Minutes. This morning's Jobless Claims report showed a slightly higher number of initial unemployment filings, but rather than help push back against yesterday's weakness, this...
If higher rates cause buyers to be more discriminating, wouldn't prices drop to compensate? Not necessarily. It will mean fewer sales first. The wealthy are doing just fine, and a little blip or two in rates or prices won't deter them from buying the top-quality...
Historically it is very rare to have pricing go up 20% in a year. With prices skyrocketing, wouldn't you expect sales to slow down? Or wouldn't buyers at least become more selective when they are forced to pay substantially more, in many cases six-figures more, than...
At first, it seemed that jumbo mortgage rates just hadn't adjusted yet. But now a month later, jumbo rates are still better than conforming rates. Here are today's rates taken from their websites (BofA just has a phone number now): Bank Conforming Rate APR Jumbo Rate...
Ben Bernanke's comments today have further calmed down the mortgage rates, now back under the 4.5% threshhold. Was there much panic in the last couple of weeks? Either a flood of new listings, or buyers rushing in/backing off? Not really. Here are new listings and new...
Another bond-market meltdown yesterday has mortgage rates knocking on the door of 5%. The mortgage market is similar to gasoline - prices shoot up instantly but are very slow to come down, if they come down at all. At this point, it would take disastrous economic...
The wild ride has tempered, and hopefully rates will stay in the mid-4% range: Home Mortgage Rates View More Interest Rates
Here's something you don't see very often. Jumbo mortgages are usually 1/2% higher than the rates for conforming loans (under $417,000). But with all the turbulence lately, jumbo mortgage rates are LOWER than a conforming rates at two of the big three banks: Bank...
Hat tip to daytrip for sending in this article from money.cnn.com. An excerpt: San Diego real estate agent Jesse Zagorsky said one of his clients put in an offer on a home last Friday for $650,000, nearly $35,000 more than the home's listing price. Over the weekend,...
Talking heads discussing the impact of higher rates - one being more ARMs: The guest commentator said that we will lose 20% of the buyers if rates go over 5%, which sounded like a guess. We don't have to lose any buyers if they were just willing to look at smaller...
