Tag Archives: Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates dipped last week--some of them hitting record lows--as unstable economic news left investors with visions of another potential economic slowdown.

Construction employment proved to be the silver lining in March's otherwise dismal job report, Freddie Mac says in its economic and housing outlook for April.

Purchase loan share picked up more ground in March as mortgage rates climbed further, according to the latest Origination Insight Report from Ellie Mae.

While rapid price gains have some analysts issuing warnings about a housing bubble in the making, newly released reports argue that a repeat of the 2008 crash is unlikely.

While last year's mortgage market was largely dominated by refinance loans, a new report from MortgageMarvel.com says the stage is already set in some areas for purchase loans to take point.

Even as prices continued to rise in last year's fourth quarter, American homeowners found themselves paying less in monthly mortgage payments compared to pre-bubble norms.

While the refinance boom "is coming off the boil," mortgage application data for March has Capital Economics confident that home purchase application volume is in the early stages of a sustainable comeback. Applications for purchase loans rose 4.5 percent from February to March and 11.4 percent over the past year--indicating an upward trend, even if volume is still low by historical standards. March's final week saw a 1 percent bump in the Mortgage Bankers Association's measure of purchase application volume.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported an increase in its measure of average mortgage interest rates for February.

Mortgage originations in the New England region hit a five-year high in 2012, The Warren Group reported.

According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.57 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending March 28, up from 3.54 percent the previous week. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.99 percent. Bankrate.com reported slight decline in the 30-year fixed average, meanwhile. According to the site's weekly survey, the average 30-year rate fell from 3.78 percent to 3.75 percent in the last week.