Tag Archives: Fixed-Rate Mortgage

In a weekly survey released Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed a 7.1 percent swell in mortgage applications from one week earlier, partly in response to declining mortgage rates. According to the Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage loan application volume, numbers went up 7.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, increasing at nearly the same percent on an unadjusted basis. From the previous week, the Refinance Index shot up 7.8 percent, alongside updrafts in the Purchase Index.

Reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without anticipating changes from new limits to government-backed mortgages could make the fixed-rate mortgage a less available product, witnesses told lawmakers Wednesday.

Market worries cooled Monday as news reports confirmed a tentative debt-ceiling deal by public officials Sunday, a last-minute agreement that would avert the next financial crisis predicted by economists. In response to the possible deal, mortgage rates stepped down from nominal highs from last week. According to Headline News, Bank of America reported that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.37 percent, down several basis-points from last week. Fellow mortgage giant Wells Fargo yielded 30-year loans at 4.50 percent.

As House Republicans shifted their focus to a balanced budget amendment Friday in order to push through a debt-ceiling raise bill, two analytics companies posted upticks in mortgage rates - a sign that some say the markets feel increasingly unsure about whether the nation will be able to pay its debts come August 2. A Bankrate, Inc. survey reflected a 6-basis point surge to 4.74 percent, with mortgages totaling 0.35 discount and origination points, with Freddie Mac reporting a similar jump.

As splintering debt-ceiling negotiations unnerved analysts and ratings agencies, Treasury yields and mortgage rates remained relatively stable over the weekend, reflecting a widespread consensus among investors and market watchers that partisan divisions would soon give way to a grand bargain between policymakers. CNN reported Sunday that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) refused to agree to a set of conditions at the White House, ending dramatic four-month-long negotiations.

On Thursday Bankrate and Freddie Mac released reports with varying conclusions about mortgage rates for this week, with the former posting a slight dip in 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and the GSE reporting few changes from last week. Publishing its Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac yielded a 4.52 percent with an average 0.7 percent for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, a nominal increase from last week when the same rates lingered at 4.51 percent.

Freddie Mac released a southerly primary mortgage market survey Thursday, revealing downward trends for mortgage rates across the board against a backdrop of anemic job growth and steadily increasing unemployment figures. According to the GSE, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dipped to 4.51 percent falling from 4.60 percent last week and staying just under the 4.57 percent average it struck last year. The data for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages yielded a fall from 3.75 percent last week to 3.65 percent this week.

On Friday lending giant Prudential Mortgage Capital Company announced a joint venture with Perella Weinberg Partners that will allow the two companies to store and originate future commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Participation in the re-emerging CMBS market is critical to maintaining our leadership position in the commercial mortgage arena, David Twardock, president of Prudential Mortgage, said in a statement.

Representing a nudge in the right direction for the origination market, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 13 percent swell in home loan applications submitted last week, up from the record low reported just one week earlier. It was the biggest gain recorded in three months. Michael Fratantoni, MBA's VP of research and economics, says low rates are driving consumers back to loans. Rates have dropped over eight of the last nine weeks - a primary driver for homeowners looking to refinance. MBA's Refinance Index jumped 16.5 percent.

MountainView Servicing Group, a subsidiary of MountainView Capital Holdings, announced Monday that it will serve as the exclusive advisor for a $188 million Ginnie Mae servicing portfolio. The portfolio is comprised entirely of fixed-rate mortgage loans, 98.1 percent of which are Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, with 99.9 percent retail origination and a weighted average interest rate of 5.95 percent.