Mortgage markets improved last week as a weakening Eurozone and questions about the U.S. economy sparked a global flight-to-quality. Conforming and FHA mortgage rates improved for the second week in a row. The storylines should sound familiar by now. They are the same ones that have dictated t
...
09/12/2011
Home affordability slipped slightly last quarter, dragged down by rising mortgage rates and recovering home prices in California and nationwide. The National Association of Home Builders reports a Q2 2011 Home Opportunity Index reading of 72.6. This means that nearly 3 of 4 homes sold last qua
...
09/12/2011
Mortgage guidelines appear to be tightening with the nation’s largest banks. In its quarterly survey to senior loan officers nationwide, the Federal Reserve uncovered that a small, but growing, portion of its member banks is making mortgage approvals more scarce for “prime” borrowers. A prime
...
09/08/2011
The U.S. economy is no longer adding new jobs. Last Friday, in its monthly Non-Farm Payrolls report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added exactly zero new jobs in August as the national Unemployment Rate held steady at 9.1 percent. Despite the “zero” reading, the
...
09/07/2011
Mortgage markets improved last week on a weak jobs report, expectation for new market stimulus, growing evidence of a global economic slowdown. Rates were especially volatile, too, with the long Labor Day Weekend looming. Overall, conforming mortgage rates in California improved for the first
...
09/06/2011
Has housing turned the corner for good? The June 2011 Case-Shiller Index reading posted strong numbers across the board, with each of the index’s 20 tracked markets showing home price improvement from May. Some markets — Chicago and Minneapolis — rose as much as 3.2 percent. The rise in values
...
09/02/2011
If you’re shopping for a mortgage rate, today may be a good day to lock one down. That’s because Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its Non-Farm Payrolls report for August 2011. The “jobs report” tends to have a big influence on mortgage bonds and mortgage rates in Irv
...
09/01/2011
After 3 straight months of gains, the Pending Home Sales Index slipped 1 percent in July. The monthly report is published by the National Association of REALTORS® and measures the number of home under contract to sell nationwide. The Pending Home Sales Index is closely watched by Wall Street a
...
08/30/2011
Last week was another volatile week for mortgage rates. Wall Street alternately sought risk and shunned it, causing mortgage-backed bonds to rise and fall rapidly. There was a lot to move markets, too, including banking concerns across Europe, inflation figures within the U.S., and a public sp
...
08/29/2011
Low mortgage rates are terrific — if you can get them. One week after posting its lowest mortgage rate in 50 years, Freddie Mac reports that the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose by an average of 7 basis points nationwide this week to 4.22%. To get the rate, you’ll pay an average of 0.7 “points”
...
08/26/2011
View Tiffany Taylor's profile