Mortgage News

I am a regular participant in the Bankrate.com Mortgage Rate Trend survey and this week’s survey is now available.

As a reminder:

1. The survey is for conforming loans only.
2. I welcome emails from readers about purchase or refinance plans.
3. I twitter market updates a few times daily.  Follow me.

Anyway, on to the group’s predictions for the next 30 days:

I am predicting that rates will increase over the next 30 days, but that doesn’t mean you should necessarily follow my advice when choosing whether to lock a rate, or float it.  My advice may not be appropriate for your individual situation.

From the Bankrate.com survey:

"New loan fees from Fannie and Freddie wipe out market gains. The ‘middleman’ fee takes its toll."

Remember: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stand between conforming borrowers and Wall Street so if the two firms want to generate some extra income, all they have to do is implement loan-based fees.

There have been four separate increases since December 2007.  We should expect more later this year.

I am a regular participant in the Bankrate.com Mortgage Rate Trend survey and this week’s survey is now available.

As a reminder:

1. The survey is for conforming loans only.
2. I welcome emails from readers about purchase or refinance plans.
3. I twitter market updates a few times daily.  Follow me.

Anyway, on to the group’s predictions for the next 30 days:

• 71% of participants predict rates will increase
• 21% of participants predict rates will decrease
• 9% of participants predict rates will remain unchanged

I am predicting that rates will increase over the next 30 days, but that doesn’t mean you should necessarily follow my advice when choosing whether to lock a rate, or float it.  My advice may not be appropriate for your individual situation.

From the Bankrate.com survey:

"Stock markets should benefit from falling commodity prices, pulling money from the mortgage bond market."

Now, silly me, I sent my comments to Bankrate.com before I found this choice nugget, buried on the Fannie Mae Web site.  I still expect rates to increase over the next 30 days, but now I am even more sure — Fannie Mae raised its loan fees across the board.

I am a regular participant in the Bankrate.com Mortgage Rate Trend survey and this week’s survey is now available.

As a reminder:

1. The survey is for conforming loans only.
2. I welcome emails from readers about purchase or refinance plans.
3. I twitter market updates a few times daily.  Follow me, if you want.

Anyway, on to the group’s predictions for the next 30 days:

• 15% of participants predict rates will increase
• 70% of participants predict rates will decrease
• 15% of participants predict rates will remain unchanged

I am predicting that rates will decrease over the next 30 days, but that doesn’t mean you should necessarily follow my advice when choosing whether to lock a rate, or float it.  My advice may not be appropriate for your individual situation.

From the Bankrate.com survey:

"The U.S. government — on purpose or not — upgraded mortgage bonds to Treasury Class.  Mortgage rates fall."

However!  No matter what the government does to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, inflation remains as worrisome to mortgage markets as Captain Hammer is to Dr. Horrible.  Extra-hot inflation figures have pushed mortgage rates up by 0.250 percent since Tuesday.

I’ve been using Twitter to communicate the mid-day market shifts to clients and there’s been a lot of them.  It’s simple to set up and completely non-intrusive.  You’re welcome to follow me if you’d like the updates, too.