|
|
| Mortgage rates were mostly lower this week, though the average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage increased. Purchase and government applications increased, while refinance activity fell.
In Freddie Mac’s survey of thrifts, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies for the week ending Nov. 26, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.97%, easing from 6.04% a week earlier. The 30-year stood at 6.10% during the week ended Nov. 28, 2007. Freddie’s regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said the 30-year averaged 6.12% during October, about 4 basis points better than September. The average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, however, increased 1 basis point from last week to 5.74%, Freddie reported. The yield on the 10-year Treasury — a gauge for long-term fixed-rates — was 3.030% early today, tumbling from around 3.210% a week ago, according to the Wall Street Journal. The decline in the 10-year yield occurred as published reports indicated fixed-mortgage rates tumbled this week following the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would purchase up to $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities issued by government sponsored housing enterprises Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Bankrate.com reported that 38 of the mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers and other “experts” it surveyed for the week Nov. 20 to Nov. 26 forecasted rising rates, while another 38 projected rates will fall. The remaining 24 panelists expected mortgage rates to stay within 2 BPS of their current levels during the next 35 to 45 days. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 5.86% this week, 0.01% better than last week. The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM, however, was down 11 BPS, averaging 5.18% this week. The underlying index for the one-year ARM, the yield on the 1-year Treasury, was 0.95% yesterday, about 10 BPS better than a week earlier, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The London Interbank Offered Rate, which is used as an ARM index on many subprime mortgages, was 2.62% as of today, Bankrate.com reported. LIBOR stood at 2.63% last week. ARMs accounted for 3% of total applications tracked in the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Nov. 21. ARM share was mostly unchanged from seven days earlier. MBA’s Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — increased 2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from last week to 404.4. The improvement was tied to purchase applications, which rose 5%, and government applications, which were 9% higher. Refinance applications, however, were down 2% from the previous week, pushing the refinance share down to 49% from 50%. |
|
|
Â
|
|
|
Sam Garcia worked in mortgage lending for twenty years prior to becoming publisher of MortgageDaily.com. e-mail:Â mtgsam@aol.com |
