If your thinking of buying a home, investing in rentals, or refinancing, now's the time. i wouldn't wait. True, homes MAY go down more, but will the interest rates? How does 2.625% sound? It's out there! I remember buying our first home, it was an FHA loan at about 12%, back in the 80's. Read on, this is important for those who are thinking along any of these lines.
Housing markets struggled through another tough quarter, this time during the spring buying season, the strongest time of year for home sellers.
Prices of existing homes fell 2.8% in the three months ended June 30 compared with the same period in 2010, according to a report issued Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Prices have bounced around a bit the past two years but have wound up in about the same place. The median price for all existing homes sold during the quarter was $171,900, almost matching the price level of all of 2009 -- $172,100.
Sales volume was off 5.4% compared with a quarter earlier to an annualized rate of 4.86 million units, and was down 12.7% from the second quarter of 2010.
The sales volume decline came despite some of the best buying conditions ever.
Just when it seemed mortgage rates weren't going to get any lower, they started testing new lows.
In the tumultuous days following Standard & Poor's debt downgrades, rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell to 4.32%, down from 4.39% last week and closed in on a record low of 4.17% set last November, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey
Rates on 15-year fixed mortgages set a new record for the second week in a row, falling to 3.5%, down from 3.54% last week.The savings for borrowers who lock in rock-bottom rates over the length of a mortgage loan can be sizable. Take, for example, a borrower with a $200,000, 30-year loan. If their mortgage carries a 4.32% rate their monthly payment is just $992 and they make total interest payments of $157,153. However, if the rate on their 30-year fixed mortgage is 5% (ordinarily considered a low rate), they'd pay $1,074 a month and $29,357 more in interest over the 30-year period.
The low rates are sparking a rash of refinancing activity, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Last week, total mortgage borrowing, most of it refinancings, jumped nearly 22%. This week's activity could be even higher, according to Greg McBride, chief economist for Bankrate.com.
"Rates have been below 5.5% for two years," he said. "For most people who have refinanced or purchased since then, there's little benefit to refinancing. But when rates drop below 4.5%, then it's worth looking into."
Rates could go even lower
While mortgage rates do not move in lockstep with Treasury yields, they are closely correlated. The yield on the 10-year bond plunged to 2.24% Thursday from 2.56% at the end of last week.
The difference between the 30-year fixed mortgage rate and the 10-year Treasury yield is usually about 1.6 to 1.7 percentage points, so a bond rate of 2.24% should mean that mortgage rates should be at 3.84% to 3.94%.
I have a team of experts waiting to help you how ever you choose to respond, but I would act now, there's no telling what things will be like in a few weeks or months from now.
The ad's on this page are some direct links to some Mortgage Lenders, click a few to see for yourself, the rates are amazing!
No comments:
Post a Comment