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Mortgages

Weekly Mortgage Market Update: August 29th, 2011

by Alex Stenback 08.29.2011

Last Week: Mortgage rates drifted higher last week, with 30 year fixed rates adding about .125% for the week, and a full .25% increase since the near-term (and all time) low set on August 10th. The most significant news last week was Ben Bernanke’s vaguely optimistic statements from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Here the Kansas City [...]

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Weekly Mortgage Market Update: Monday August 15th 2011

by Alex Stenback 08.15.2011

Last Week: In one of the more volatile weeks in memory, mortgages managed to make strong gains.  Benchmark 30 year fixed rates even made a run at the sub 4% mark mid-week, but drifted back to 4% or slightly above by the end of the week as stocks managed to close out the week by [...]

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Fed Statement: Does a Promise That Rates Will Stay Low Until 2013 Apply to Mortgages?

by Alex Stenback 08.09.2011

“The Committee currently anticipates that economic conditions–including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run–are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2013.” The money quote from Today’s Fed Statement – unusually suggesting a specific timeline before any interest rate hikes [...]

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In Which We Opine on the Refinance Market

by Alex Stenback 08.08.2011

Amy Hoak at Marketwatch pulls a couple of quotes from your favorite Mortgage Banker with a blog: “We’ve got a generation of borrowers out there who have been paying on their mortgages… and carrying an above-market rate, but can’t refinance because the appraisal won’t allow them to do so,” said Alex Stenback, mortgage banker for [...]

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Monday Market Commentary: Rates Remain at 2011 Lows, Beware Uncharted Waters

by Alex Stenback 08.08.2011

Last Week: It was a wild ride for mortgage rates, which improved throughout the week but saw a lot of volatility. The most influential factor is sending rates lower: Stocks generally took a pounding on renewed fears of generalized economic weakness in the US and ongoing Eurozone debt worries, which had investors across the globe [...]

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Mortgage Rates Hitting November 2010 Lows: The Recovery That Wasn’t

by Alex Stenback 08.03.2011

Yesterday, mortgage rates dropped to levels we have not seen since early November 2010. To be clear:  30 year fixed rate home loans from 3.875% to 4.375% are well within striking distance for the vast majority of borrowers. This is a level that many thought we’d never see again, and a testament to the staying power of our economic non-recovery. Thought to be [...]

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Monday Market Commentary: This Week in Mortgage Rates

by Alex Stenback 08.01.2011

Last Week: Many feared uncertainty over the debt ceiling dysfunction would drive mortgage rates higher. What actually happened was mortgages got cheaper by almost .25% as jittery investors sought safe haven in bond markets until the debt ceiling issue was resolved. Also helping rates: An armload of less than stellar economic data, including especially a weak [...]

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So, You Want to Go Back to Having Banks Hold All Mortgages?

by Alex Stenback 06.30.2011

Today’s WSJ daggers the popular mythology that the we’d all be better off if we had never let Fannie/Freddie come to dominate the mortgage market, and that a safer real estate finance system involves going back to the days of yore when banks made the rules, held their own loans to maturity, and all was [...]

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Bottom Calls: What six heads in a box can tell you about the real estate market

by Alex Stenback 06.16.2011

A pretty balanced view here from across the housing industry on the ongoing challenges for the housing market.  For regular readers, this will be familiar stuff:  Executive summary: Lack of jobs/economic growth and too-stringent lending standards tamping down demand.  Meanwhile, foreclosures and forced/distressed sales continue to top-off the supply side of the equation.  End result is prices [...]

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