A slight drop in mortgage rates last week did not lead to much mortgage activity. Total mortgage application volume—for refinances and home purchases—mostly stayed flat last week, dropping by a mere 0.8 percent compared to the previous week on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.The MBA reported the average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 4.33 percent last week from 4.46 percent the we
Mortgage lenders’ optimism reached a high in a first-quarter survey, even as lenders expressed pressing challenges to their profit margins, according to Fannie Mae’s 2017 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey.Lenders say they’re most upbeat about the direction of the economy and home prices. They also continue to report modest easing of credit standards across all loan types, with plans to continue to do so over the next three months.“This qua
Many households are mortgage-ready but don’t try to buy a home because they can’t come up with a down payment, according to Rob Crane, CEO of Down Payment Resource in Atlanta.And yet there are hundreds of down payment assistance programs around the country that many households could tap if they only knew about them.To be sure, many households won’t qualify for down payment assistance, because they simply earn too much money. But many of the
Mortgage financing giant Freddie Mac has expanded access to credit for American families without credit scores. Beginning in June, borrowers without credit scores may be able to easily qualify for purchase mortgages or no-cash-out refinance transactions. Still, borrowers will have to show payment references, like records showing timely housing payments.Freddie Mac currently allows lenders to manually underwrite mortgage loans to borrowers without
Homeownership remains a “critical part” of the national economy and “ongoing weakness in the single-family housing market, represents a substantial hurdle limiting the pace of economic growth,” according to a newly released study by the Rosen Consulting Group and Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics for the National Association of REALTORS®.Homeownership not only helps individuals build personal wealth but is also vital for
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased slightly, following two months of steady rises."The 10-year Treasury yield fell about 10 basis points this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 30-year mortgage rate moved with Treasury yields and dropped 7 basis points to 4.23 percent. This marks the greatest week-over-week decline for the 30-year mortgage rate in over two months, a stark contrast from last week's jump fol
The Federal Reserve has made two swift rate hikes in just four months and vows of more to come. But there’s a way to slow the pace of interest-rate hikes: Build more homes, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, writes in his new column at Forbes.com.Building more apartments and single-family homes would help slow down inflation, Yun says.The nation has typically added 1.5 million new housing units each ye
A lesser-known home loan may help your clients in the medical industry better afford a home purchase. Known simply as a "physician loan," these mortgages have less stringent credit and debt-to-income requirements than other loan products. They require down payments as low as 10 percent or less—even zero money down in some cases. They also don't require borrowers to pay private mortgage insurance.Why is their a mortgage targeting doctors, you as
More borrowers are turning to shorter-term adjustable-rate mortgages as interest rates rise, but that may be a riskier move than your clients realize. While these mortgages offer lower interest rates, the rates reset after a certain preset time. Still, a five-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged a 3.28 percent rate last week compared to 4.30 for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, according to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage market survey.The
The Federal Reserve is finally taking more action to raise its short-term rates. Last week, it voted to raise the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points. That is expected to add pressure to mortgage rates, too. Many housing analysts fear that rising mortgage rates could further impact home affordability and lead home buyers to pause.However, Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Ten-X and former senior vice president at RealtyTrac, disagrees. He th
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