Rates Improved Overall Last Week but Could Be Short Lived

March 8, 2010

Mortgage markets improved last week in low-volume trading.

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Want to Know What Rates Will Do This Week?

March 1, 2010

Jobs Take on a Key Role in Determining Mortgage Rates It’s easy, really. Jobs are playing a huge role in mortgage bond trading and markets expect that 30,000 jobs were lost in February.  If the actual figure is better than 30,000 jobs lost, mortgage rates will rise. If it’s worse, rates will rise. Other important […]

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Heavy Negative Data Led to Lower Rates Last Week

March 1, 2010

Mortgage markets improved last week as economic reports painted a less-than-stellar portrait of the U.S. economy and concerns of a looming monetary policy change eased. Mortgage pricing improved dramatically, despite a late-Friday retreat.

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As The Supply Of New Homes Grows, So Does The Opportunity For A “Good Deal”

February 25, 2010

New Home Sales fell 11 percent from the month prior and posted the fewest units sold in a month since 1963 — the year the government first started tracking New Home Sales data. It may be good for home buyers.

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December 09 Case-Shiller Report Released-Interesting Recovery Facts

February 24, 2010

Using data compiled in December, Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday. The report shows home prices down just 2.5% on an annual basis, a figure much lower than the 8.7% annual drop reported after Q3.

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How to Avoid Paying a Higher Rate on Your Mortgage

February 23, 2010

Although the newspapers reported mortgage rates down last week, they weren’t. Conforming mortgage rates were higher by at least 1/8 percent, or roughly $11 per $100,000 borrowed per month. In some cases, rates were up by even more.

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Look for a Lot of Economic Data to be Released This Week

February 22, 2010

What is Scheduled to Release? A quick breakdown of this week’s economic news: * Tuesday : Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence * Wednesday : New Home Sales * Thursday : FHFA Home Price Index, Initial Jobless Claims * Friday : Existing Home Sales, Personal Consumption Expenditures With markets already on edge, any better-than-expected results […]

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Confidence in US Economy Higher than Expected, Rates Rose Last Week

February 22, 2010

Mortgage markets had a terrible, holiday-shortened week last week as Wall Street responded to worse-than-expected inflation data and action from the Federal Reserve. Mortgage bonds sold off with force, causing mortgage rates to rise for the second week in a row.

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Builders are Making Lemonade With the Lemons

February 19, 2010

Sometimes, headlines for housing can be misleading and this week gave us a terrific example. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department released its Housing Starts data for January 2010. The data showed starts at a 6-month high. The real story is something different.

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Federal Reserve Releases Minutes from January 2010 Meeting

February 18, 2010

The Fed Minutes is a follow-up document, delivered 3 weeks after an official FOMC meeting. It’s a companion piece to the post-meeting press release, detailing the debates and discussions that shaped our central bankers’ policy decisions. The Minutes is a terrific look into the Fed’s collective mind and, yesterday, Wall Street didn’t like what it saw.

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