Tag Archives: Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates broke their streak of declines this week. Analysts say while the potential drag from the government shutdown and looming debt ceiling deadline had pulled rates lower in recent weeks, hopes that a promising deal was in the works served to ease those concerns and push rates higher. Freddie Mac reports the 30-year rate rose from 4.23 percent to 4.28 percent over the last week.

Citigroup reported a third quarter net income of $3.2 billion Tuesday, slipping somewhat as higher interest rates took a bite out of mortgage revenues. The bank also suffered from $635 million worth of incremental mortgage charge-offs required by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's guidance on the treatment of loans where the borrower has gone through Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Fixed mortgage rates held more or less steady this week as Capitol Hill remained locked in debate over budgetary concerns. According to data in Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.23 percent for the week ending October 10, and the 15-year fixed rate came in at 3.31 percent.

Investment bank FBR Capital Markets released its preview of third-quarter earnings for major U.S. banks Monday, with a cloudy outlook for mortgage banking. In general, bank stocks have underperformed the broader market by about 2 percent over the third quarter; and zeroing in on the mortgage market, FBR is not optimistic about Q3 results.

Continuing the trend observed in August, Americans' enthusiasm for the housing market abated last month as the government's fiscal policy debate came back into the spotlight. Fannie Mae says it's found that although consumers are ""generally positive"" about housing and the economy, attitudes over the last few months suggest optimism has hit a plateau, even softened.

While Rep. Jeb Hensarling's (R-Texas) Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners (PATH) Act seems to be gathering little momentum, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) announced her intention to create an alternative bill regarding the future of the housing finance system and the government's role in it.

The Housing Market Index (HMI), a measure of builder confidence, stalled at 58 in September, unchanged from August’s downwardly revised reading, the National Association of Home Builders reported Tuesday. The August confidence reading had originally been 59. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the index to remain at that level. But a dip in one of the three index components--the outlook for new home sales six months out--pulled the reading down slightly.

August's mixed employment numbers did little to move mortgage rates this week, according to surveys from Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com. The GSE's study shows the average 30-year fixed rate staying put at 4.57 percent for the week ending September 12. By Freddie's assessment, that figure is up more than a full percentage point from 3.55 percent this time last year. Bankrate put the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 4.71 percent this week, down from 4.72 percent last week and up from 3.81 percent in mid-September 2012.

Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey for August shows more people are optimistic about price gains over the next year (55 percent, up from 53 percent), though the average expected gain has pulled back slightly to 3.4 percent (compared to July's high of 3.9 percent). The share of people expecting prices to fall bounced up to 7 percent from July's low of 6 percent. The company explained that consumers' attitudes have hit a plateau ""due to concerns regarding the potential tapering of the Federal Reserve's asset purchases.""

For its most recent quarterly report, Redfin surveyed 1,772 active homebuyers across the 22 markets it covers. Respondents hailed from all over the country. Out of those polled, 56 percent said rising rates have impacted their ability to buy a home ""somewhat,"" while an additional 7 percent said rates are impacting them ""a lot."" In addition, more homebuyers pointed to rising mortgage rates as one of their major concerns with buying a home right now.