Spring, Tx New Homes

Rates on fixed-rate mortgages reached record lows this week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 3.83% in Freddie Mac’s most recent survey of conforming mortgage rates.

Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, stated, “Following April’s weaker-than-expected employment report, and the French and Greek election results raising concerns over the stability of the Euro currency zone, long-term Treasury bond yields declined allowing fixed mortgage rates to ease to new all-time record lows this week."

Last week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.84% and 4.63% a year ago.

Rates on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.05% for the week ending May 10, which is down from 3.07% last week and 3.82% a year ago, according to the Freddie Mac survey.

Average interest rates on 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.81%, which is down from 2.85% last week and 3.41% a year ago.

Rates on 1-year Treasury-indexed ARMs grew, averaging 2.73%, up from 2.7% last week. The ARM averaged 3.11% a year ago.

In order to obtain those rates, the fixed-rate mortgages required payment of an average 0.7 point and the ARMs required an average 0.5 point.

A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

Source: marketwatch.com

According to the 2012-Q1 edition of the Texas Quarterly Housing Report, the Texas real estate market gained positive momentum in the first quarter of 2012.

The volume of single-family home sales in Texas was 12 percent higher than the same quarter of 2011 and the median price grew by nearly three percent over the same time frame.

Joe Stewart, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors, stated, "The watchword for Texas real estate in 2011 was ‘consistency,’ in both sales volume and price. That allowed us to emerge from last year with stable sales volumes and strong property values. Now, in 2012′s first-quarter results, we see a strong increase in sales volume and a meaningful increase in the median price. That indicates positive momentum for the year ahead."

For the period of January through March 2012, the volume of single-family home sales in Texas was 45,502, which is 12 percent more than the same quarter in 2011.

The median price for Texas homes during the quarter was $147,100, which is 2.7 percent more than 2011-Q1.

Jim Gaines, Ph.D., an economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, stated, "We believe several factors are driving the strong performance of the first quarter, including continued job growth in Texas and some increased access to credit for home buyers. Most of all, we’re starting to see a shift in Texans’ attitudes toward real estate. Essentially, buyers and sellers have higher expectations for the market, so they’re beginning to take action and we’re starting to see the impacts."

Source: builderonline.com

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage remained near its lowest level on record, keeping home-purchasing and refinancing affordable.

According to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the rate on the 30-year loan jumped to 3.90 percent from 3.88 percent.

The rate reached 3.87 percent in February, which was the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

For home buyers, the 30-year loan is the most common financing option.

The 15-year mortgage, which is popular with those refinancing, increased to 3.13 percent from 3.11 percent, which is an an all-time low.

Source: newstribune.com

Currently, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is 3.73 percent, which is down eight basis points from 3.81 percent at this same time last week.

After increasing to 3.95 percent on Wednesday, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained between 3.8 and 3.9 percent for the rest of the week, dropping to the current rate early this morning.

Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, stated, "Spurred by an unimpressive U.S. jobs report and concerns about Spain’s financial situation, mortgage rates fell to a four-week low after spiking early last week."

"This coming week, we expect rates to remain fairly flat, barring worsening news out of Europe or Federal Reserve commentary that contradicts the optimistic tone set by the release of the Fed’s meeting minutes last week," Lantz stated.

Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace site, and reflect the most recent changes in the market.

These are not a weekly survey or marketing rates.

Currently, the rate for a 15-year fixed home loan is 2.95 percent, while the rate for a 5-1 adjustable-rate mortgage is 2.56 percent.

Source: yahoo.com

The typical rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage remained under 4% this week, continuing a recent holding pattern at about that level, Freddie Mac stated.

Freddie Mac’s report on lender offering rates revealed the 30-year loan averaged 3.98%, statistically unchanged from the 3.99% recorded last week.

The average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate home loan was 3.21%, a decrease from 3.23% in the previous weekly report.

Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country each week to determine what they are offering to borrowers with good credit and 20% down payments or 20% equity in their homes in the case of refinance loans.

The borrowers in the latest survey would have paid 0.7% of the loan amount in lender fees and discount points to obtain a home loan.

Solid borrowers who shop around or pay additional points upfront may obtain better rates than those in the Freddie Mac survey.

Source: latimes.com

According to HSH.com, the average rates and points offered by lenders for the two most popular types of mortgages, the conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and the conforming 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage.

Average rates for both loan types continued to increase during the week ending March 27.

The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages grew by 3 basis points (0.03 percent) to 4.16 percent.

Conforming 5/1 hybrid ARM rates jumped by 5 basis points, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wraparound weekly survey at an average of 3.06 percent.

Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com, stated "Although rates moved upward this week, the size of the increase is small. It appears that the interest rates that most influence mortgages have settled back this week compared to last, so mortgage rates should ease back a little as the week progresses."

A drop in the bond market reflected earlier expectations that the U.S. economy was gaining traction at a faster rate, and that the Federal Reserve may begin to increase interest rates sooner than the end of 2014.

Source: sfgate.com

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage remained near a low this week, making home-buying and refinancing more attractive to those who can qualify.

According to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the 30-year loan increased to 3.92 percent.

That’s a growth from 3.88 percent the previous week.

The rate reached 3.87 percent four weeks ago, which is the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage jumped to 3.16 percent, which is up from a record low of 3.13 percent last week.

Rates on the 30-year loan have been under 4 percent for three months.

Low rates are among the positive signs emerging that suggest this year could mark a turnaround for the housing market.

Source: indystar.com

The Mortgage Bankers Association publishes the results of a weekly applications survey that covers an estimated 50 percent of all residential mortgage originations and tracks the average interest rate for 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages as well as the volume of both refinance and purchase applications.

The purchase application index has been highlighted as a particularly important data series as it broadly captures the demand side of residential real estate for both existing and new home purchases.

The latest data is showing that the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage went flat at 3.965% since last week while the purchase application volume grew 2.1% and the refinance application dropped 2.0% over the same period.

Source: csmonitor.com

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased for the first time in four weeks, relinquishing its all-time record low amid news that the housing market is showing some signs of improvement.

Rates on 30-year fixed loans grew to an average of 3.95% from the record 3.87% last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Meanwhile, the rate on 15-year fixed loans jumped higher to 3.19% after sticking at 3.16% for two weeks in a row.

The increase in rates is a vote of confidence for the housing market, which continues to show signs of gradual improvement, according to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Source: cnn.com

Currently, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is 3.7 percent, which is up four basis points from 3.66 percent at this same time last week.

On Tuesday, February 7, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate decreased to 3.66 percent, which is the lowest rate reported since Zillow Mortgage Marketplace launched in April 2008.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained between 3.67 and 3.72 percent for the majority of the week, slipping to the current rate early this morning.

Erin Lantz, director of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, stated "Mortgage rates showed little change this past week as investors continued to purchase U.S. mortgage bonds that they consider relatively insulated from global uncertainty. In the coming week, unless there are major new developments out of Greece that might trigger a dip in rates, we expect rates to remain flat to slightly up since lenders are busy with new loans from homeowners anxious to take advantage of historically low interest rates."

Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted on a daily basis to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace site, and reflect the most recent changes in the market.

These are not a weekly survey or marketing rates.

Currently, the rate for a 15-year fixed home loan is 3.0 percent, while the rate for a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage is 2.74 percent.

Source: yahoo.com