Your Arizona Mortgage Blog

Treasuries and mortgage bonds are opening lower after lawmakers together with President Obama reached an agreement last night, to raise the US debt ceiling by at least $2.1 trillion and also cut spending by at least $2.4 trillion.  The House plans to vote today with the Senate soon thereafter.  W...

The debt ceiling talks will remain in the spotlight next week, and an agreement could be reached at any time. The biggest economic report will be the important Employment data on Friday. As usual, this data on the number of jobs, the Unemployment Rate, and wage inflation will be the most highly a...

Amid all the turmoil surrounding the US debt ceiling talks, weaker than expected economic data and increased concerns about Europe helped mortgage rates improve this week.   A lack of progress in the debt ceiling talks has left investors with a high level of uncertainty, causing a great deal of v...

An underwater mortgage is a home with negative equity — when a person owes more on their mortgage than their home is worth. A recent report said Arizona homeowners who were under water averaged $60,000 in negative equity.  Phoenix was the third-highest metro area in the nation, with 55 percent of...

With few economic reports released this week, news of progress in talks to provide aid to troubled European countries and to raise the US debt ceiling had the most influence on mortgage rates. As the perceived risk of default in Europe decreased, investors retreated from the relative safety of US...

Beyond the debt ceiling talks, there will be a packed Economic Calendar next week. New Home Sales and Consumer Confidence will be released on Tuesday. Durable Orders, an important indicator of economic growth, will come out on Wednesday, along with the Fed's Beige Book. Pending Home Sales, a lead...

It will be a light week coming up. Housing Starts will be released on Tuesday. Existing Home Sales will come out on Wednesday. Leading Indicators and Philly Fed will be released on Thursday. Negotiations to raise the US debt ceiling and economic troubles in Europe will remain the focus next week.

During a week packed with economic data, Europe and the Fed took center stage in influencing mortgage rates. Uncertainty about the economic outlook caused a flight to relatively safer investments, and mortgage rates ended the week a little lower. In June, stronger than expected economic data caus...

In a packed week, the most significant economic data next week will be the monthly inflation reports. The Producer Price Index (PPI) focuses on the increase in prices of "intermediate" goods used by companies to produce finished products and will come out on Thursday. The Consumer Price Index (CP...

The main focus this week was the June Employment report. Rising expectations during the week pushed mortgage rates higher ahead of the report. When the Employment data came in far below expectations, though, mortgage rates improved significantly and ended the week a little lower. Against a consen...