Who would have thought that home mortgage rates would continue to break record with declining rates across the board? Of course this is great news for homeowners and perspective home buyers looking to leverage the lowest mortgage rates of the century.
Fannie Mae’s current-coupon thirty-year fixed-rate home loans narrowed 0.03 percentage point to about 0.65 percentage point more than 10-year Treasuries as of 9:33 a.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The gap, which has fallen from 0.82 percentage point on June 30th, touched a low of 0.59 percentage point on March 29th, two days before the Federal Reserve ended its buying of $1.25 trillion of home-loan debt.
Home loan rates may be rising off record lows and bond prepayments reports released July 7th show limited mortgage refinancing, suggesting there will be less supply to meet demand as borrowers move from loans in bonds on the Fed’s balance sheet. JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, Matthew Jozoff wrote in a July 9th report “refinance-driven supply is the fly in the ointment.”
Yields on the Fannie Mae bonds have advanced to 3.73% from a record low of 3.63% reached July 6th, down from 4.67% on April 5th, Bloomberg data show. The gain has been slower than benchmark Treasuries, whose yields have begun rising as stocks rally, damping demand for the safest assets.
Freddie Mac reported that the average interest rate on a conforming thirty-year fixed-rate home loan fell to a record low 4.57% in the week ended July 8th. That was a decline from this year’s high of 5.21% in April.
Freddie Mac announced today that the current mortgage interest rates are the lowest they have been in 2010. The Wall Street Journal reported that home builder stocks rallied in early trading follow a reported spike in mortgage loan applications last week as homeowners take advantage of some of the lowest home mortgage rates since March.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index of home loan applications, which includes both purchase mortgage and refinance loans, rose 3.9% for the week ended May 7th. The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which removes some of the volatility of weekly changes, was up 4.4%. Mortgage refinancing led the way; the MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of home refinance applications rose 14.8%. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, including lending fees, averaged 4.96%, the lowest level since week ended March 12th. Refinance rates were still higher the 4.76% last year and the all-time low of 4.6%. The demand for mortgage loans for buying new homes dropped following the expiration of the heavily publicized federal home buyer tax credits.
Fannie Mae announced that it will tighten lending requirements for its interest-only loans and adjustable rate mortgage loans. If a borrower wants an interest only mortgage through Fannie Mae, for example, he or she will have to make down payments of 30% of the sale price. For ARM’s, Fannie will only buy those underwritten to ensure that borrowers could still afford payments even if their interest rates reset to the higher of either one of the home loan’s initial interest rate plus two percentage points or 2) the maximum the interest rate the loan can rise to, known in the industry as the cap rate. As an example, for a home mortgage loan with a beginning rate of 5% and a cap rate of 6% borrowers would have to demonstrate they could still keep up payments even if the mortgage rate rose to 7%. If the cap rate is 8%, borrowers would have to be able to afford an 8% mortgage. For an ARM with a fixed period (ie. 5/1 ARM) any initial period with 5 years or less qualify at greater of note rate +2% or fully indexed rate, and interest only mortgage loans will have a maximum LTV 70% and a minimum FICO of 720 with 24 months minimum reserves. Balloon Loans, unless they receive special approval, are going away entirely with Fannie.
Fannie Mae provides several refinance options including the Home Affordable Refinance Program.Fannie Mae refinance solutions are only available eligible borrowers who have a mortgage balance less than $417,000 that is owned by Fannie Mae.125 mortgage options are available for no equity home refinancing.
Fannie Mae Refinance Plus simplifies the refinancing process for loans that are already in a mortgage lender’s servicing portfolio. This Fannie Mae mortgage program allows refinancing to 125% LTV. The Home Affordable Refinance Programs offers a unique refinance alternative because no equity is required.Fannie Mae pledges to provide home refinancing with increased efficiencies for the origination and underwriting of Fannie Mae.Fannie Mae allows limited cash-out refinance transactions up to 125 percent loan to value.
