Mortgage Applications Jump; Rates at Record Low
March 26, 2009 by Tamara Sevigny, Customer Care Director
| View Comments

U.S. mortgage applications jumped last week as record low interest rates spurred a surge in demand for home refinancing loans, data showed on Wednesday. The drop offered a sizable refinance incentive for most homeowners, which sparked a pick-up in refinance activity. To read the full article click on the following link: http://foxbusiness.com/story/markets/market-overview/mortgage-applications-jump-rates-record-low

Mortgage rates drop to record low
by Tamara Sevigny, Customer Care Director
| View Comments

Rates on 30-year mortgages fell this week to the lowest level on record after the Federal Reserve launched a new effort to assist the staggering U.S. housing market. Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.85 percent last week. It was the lowest in the history of the Freddie Mac’s survey, which dates back to 1971 and was down from a full percentage point from one year ago. To read the full article please log onto: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mortgage-rates-drop-to-record-apf-14753570.html

Mortgage Applications surged last week!
by Tamara Sevigny, Customer Care Director
| View Comments

Mortgage applications surged last week, coming mostly from borrowers looking to refinance at sharply lower rates after the Federal Reserve unveiled plans to buy Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that according to the Mortgage Bankers Association its weekly application index climbed 32.2 percent for the week ended March 20, 2009. The index came in at 1159.4, up from 876.9 a week earlier. For the full article please log onto: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/1310ap_mort…

Fannie Mae: Refinance volume triples in February
March 18, 2009 by Tamara Sevigny, Customer Care Director
| View Comments

Fannie Mae said the volume of mortgage loan that it refinanced in February totaled $41 billion, nearly triple January’s volume. The mortgage finance company said Wednesday it was the largest figure in almost a year as a surge of homeowners took advantage of low interest rates and higher loan limits. For the full article please click the following link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fannie-Mae-Refinance-volume-apf-14679236.html

Fed Has Pushed Mortgage Rates Lower, But 5% Looks Like Bottom
by Tamara Sevigny, Customer Care Director
| View Comments

The Federal Reserve’s efforts to lower mortgage rates, generally considered successful on Wall Street and in the central bank’s own corridors, may have hit a wall as a surge in refinancing has discouraged lenders from lowering rates even more.

Benchmark mortgage rates, which have fallen nearly 1 percentage point since late November to a little over 5%, according to Freddie Mac’s survey of 30-year conventional mortgages, are likely to range between about 5% and 5.25% for the next several months, say some analysts.

That’s low by historical standards, and a sharp drop from November’s levels before the Fed intervened directly in the mortgage market. But it’s higher than the 4.5% level that some analysts said late year was what was needed to ease U.S. housing woes and well above the 2% rate that is what some troubled borrowers may be able to negotiate under the government’s mortgage-modification guidelines.

For the full article, please click on the following link: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200903181244DOWJONESDJONLINE000779FORTUNE5.htm