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February 3, 2010

Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended

Category: FHA,First Time Home Buyer,Government Loans,Home Loan News,Loan Programs,Mortgage Industry News,Mortgage Lenders,Published Articles – admin – 10:18 am

According to data released by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the expansion to the homebuyer tax credit, an exceptional government stimulus measure was passed to boost housing activity, new home sales took a 7.6% decline in December. The results come on the heels of National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports of similar December declines in existing home sales.  First time home buyer loans have seen a recent spike in loan application volumes since the tax credit news hit the street.

The homebuyer tax credit extended for first time homebuyers and expanded to include existing homeowners requires buyers have a contract in place by April 30 athnd close by June 30th. The problem, homebuilder insiders and real estate agents tell HousingWire, is that consumers who tried to take advantage of the tax credit too late in the fall before realizing there wasn’t enough time to close a deal by the original November 30th expiration date have yet to reengage themselves in the home loan process.  FHA mortgage lending continues to support a majority of the first time homebuyer loans.  “With new homes, the homebuilders ran out of everything they could close by the end of November,” Burns said. “There were people that wanted to buy in these communities that didn’t because they couldn’t close in time.” 

As HousingWire previously reported, the JBREC December monthly builder survey showed optimism among 264 home building industry executives from public and private companies. The belief that builders will have increased community count, better orders and slightly higher prices has 57% of respondents planning for more revenue in 2010 than in 2009.

Another confidence booster is the tax credit many builders are receiving from the temporary extension of the terms of net operating carry-back laws, which let builder recoup losses from taxes paid in profitable years.  “It’s given them more confidence in their cash balances and they want to start more speculative homes because of the extra cash that they now have,” Burns said.

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January 27, 2010

Home Mortgage Rates

Category: Home Loan Market,Home Loan News,Home Mortgage Rates,Mortgage Industry News,Mortgage Lenders – admin – 6:53 pm

The average mortgage rate on a 30-year home loan with fixed rates climbed to 5.02% last week from 5%, MBA said.  The mortgage rate reached 4.61% at the end of March, the lowest since the group’s records began in 1990.  At the current thirty-year mortgage rate, monthly borrowing costs for each $100,000 of a home loan would be $538.04 which is about $12 less than a year ago when the rate was 5.22%.

A report later today may show sales of new homes rose 3% in December to a 366,000 annual rate, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg News survey.   Sales of existing U.S. homes plunged last month, reflecting the expected expiration of the government’s first-time buyer tax credit on November 30th.

The Fed keeps mortgage rates low! Mortgage refinancing products are available. Finance Home Improvements!  Find out your eligibility for FHA 203K Loans.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 4.34% from 4.33 % a week earlier. The rate on a one-year adjustable mortgage increased to 6.84% last week.   The share of applicants seeking to refinance a loan dropped to 67.6% last week, the lowest level in almost three months, from 71.7% the prior week.

Mortgage lenders continue to see muted demand for financing.   “The residential mortgage and home equity line portfolios also continued their downward trend,” SunTrust Banks Inc. Chief Financial Officer Mark Chancy said on a conference call January 22nd. The Atlanta-based lender said it lost $248.1 million in the fourth quarter as loans soured in the Southeast real estate market.  The Washington-based Mortgage Bankers Association’s loan survey, compiled every week, covers about half of all U.S. retail mortgage loan originations.

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January 22, 2010

FHA Underwriting Tightening

Category: FHA,Home Loan News,Loan Programs,Mortgage Industry News,Mortgage Lenders – admin – 5:53 pm

FHA announced they will continue to allow borrowers to finance the upfront mortgage insurance premiums.  FHA will pursue legislative authority to allow flexibility to bring the annual premium, which borrowers pay on a monthly basis, higher. Also, seller concessions will be reduced to 3% from 6%.  In a recent blog post, the FHA Mortgage Lending Blog stated that the Administration will expand mortgage refinance guidelines sometime in 2010.

Frank Black, who managed a Wells Fargo branch in California said, “After reviewing the changes to the FHA requirements, I believe FHA mortgage lenders will agree that the new rules make sense and are needed to keep the government financing alive. A few years ago, many brokers and lenders took advantage of FHA underwriting by pushing the envelope with risky home loans.”  See the original article > FHA Loan Guidelines Require 10% Down for Low Fico.

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January 8, 2010

Home Loan Industry Sees First Job Increase in 6 Months

Category: Home Loan Market,Mortgage Industry Jobs,Mortgage Industry News,Mortgage Lenders,Published Articles – admin – 6:16 pm

The home mortgage industry added 200 full-time employees to their payrolls in November, the first jump in industry employment since July. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage broker/ bankersector rose to 255,700, compared to 255,500 in October. The BLS data shows the increase is entirely due to more mortgage brokers having jobs. Employment at mortgage broker and banking firms was flat in November. Overall, the home loan industry experienced a 10% drop in its workforce over the past 12 months. Major mortgage lenders have relied on outsourcing and temporary workers to deal with fluctuating demand. Meanwhile, the nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 10% in December, but 85,000 workers were laid off, according to the new jobs report. This disappointed analysts who were looking for a sign that the job market had finally turned the corner.

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January 4, 2010

Home Loan and Credit Default Swap Costs with ResCap

Category: Home Loan News,Mortgage Industry News – admin – 6:14 pm

The struggling mortgage giant, Residential Capital more than halved and its bonds surged on Monday after the company last week benefited from new government funds from its parent company GMAC . A still weak capital position and the risks of further home mortgage loan losses and lessened government support, however, may still weigh on the mortgage company’s debt. GMAC, which converted into a bank holding company last year to benefit from government mortgage refinancing programs, said on Wednesday it would receive another $3.8 billion from the U.S. Treasury, and would inject $2.7 billion into ResCap.

The cost of insuring ResCap’s debt in the credit and home loan default swap market on Monday plunged to a spread equivalent of around 887 basis points, or $887,000 per year for five years to insure $10 million in debt, from more than 2,200 basis points, indicating significantly lower expectations of a default, according to Markit Intraday. ResCap’s 8.375 percent bond due 2010 jumped to 94 cents on the dollar from 61 cents in mid-December, when it was last actively traded, according to MarketAxess.  “Treasury pumped in another $3.8 billion into GMAC largely so that GMAC could support ResCap, which is ring-fenced off from GMAC and lacks a compelling ongoing business model,” CreditSights analysts Adam Steer and David Hendler said in a report. “We are at a loss for words over the complete lack of logic behind using tax dollars to support ResCap,” they added.  

The continuing support for ResCap is likely to reflect political efforts to improve housing markets by encouraging lenders to offer FHA refinance or loan modification options to homeowners struggling to make payments.  “You don’t want to put a mortgage servicing company under because they are important now in the restructuring of mortgage loans … you don’t want that kind of disruption,” said Ricardo Kleinbaum, trading sector specialist at BNP Paribas in New York.  The move nonetheless came as a surprise as most had thought government support for GMAC had been targeted at helping shore up mortgage lending to the troubled auto industry

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December 29, 2009

Home Mortgage Rates Jump

Category: Mortgage Industry News – admin – 10:56 am

According to Zillow, the mortgage rates for 30-year fixed home loans rose to 4.93% in both the U.S. last week, up substantially from the previous week.  Just two weeks ago, national average thirty year fixed mortgage rates were 4.77%.

The volume of mortgage requests fell 26% nationally last week and of those requests, 63% were for purchase loans, 35% were for refinance loans and 2% were for home equity loans.  Zillow also reported that mortgage rates for 15-year fixed mortgages also rose nationally.

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December 14, 2009

MBA Predicts Higher Mortgage Rates and Less Home Loan Originations

Category: Conventional,Home Loan News,Loan Programs,Mortgage Industry News,Mortgage Lenders – admin – 6:43 pm

Slowly rising mortgage interest rates along with relatively sluggish home sales will have repercussions in the mortgage industry over the next few quarters according to the Mortgage Bankers Associations Mortgage Finance Forecast for the Fourth Quarter of 2009.  “The most important factor driving recent declines in real estate market activity and increases in home loan delinquencies and foreclosures has been the ongoing job losses and rising unemployment rates stemming from the most severe recession the country has experienced in a generation.

Current mortgage interest rates, home prices, and household incomes all impact affordability. Today, mortgage rates remain near record lows, and with the continued decline in home prices, for those with resources, it is a buyers’ market like we haven’t seen in years. Obviously, the problem is that there are not enough potential homebuyers who have the income and down-payment, and who feel confident both that the housing market will recover, and that their job situation is secure, to boost demand despite the improvements in affordability.”

MBA economists expect long term mortgage interest rates to raise slowly from the average of 4.9 % expected for the fourth quarter to 5.2% in the first quarter of 2010 and 5.7% in the fourth quarter.  Rates will climb to 6.0% during the second quarter of 2011.  One year adjustable rates are projected to be almost completely flat over the next year.  At 4.6% this quarter, they will trade between 4.7 and 4.8% throughout 2010 and rise to an average of 5.3% in 2011.  At the same time, sales of existing homes, estimated at nearly 5 million this year will continue at that pace through the first three quarters of 2010 before increasing in the fourth quarter for total of 5.55 million sales for that year.  Sales are expected to reach 6 million in 2011.  New home sales, projected to reach an estimated annualized rate of 442,000 in the fourth quarter and 391,000 for the year will move around in a narrow annualized range of 468,000 to 508,000 during the four quarters of 2010 and finish the year with around 483,000 sales. New home sales will total 609,000 in 2011.  All of the above outlined circumstances are expected to result in a slow year for home mortgage originators with home loan originations increasing but not strongly enough to make up for a plunge in home refinancing.  It is expected that purchase mortgages will total 718,000 for this year; 804,000 in 2010 and 896,000 in 2011.  FHA refinance activity is forecasted to be strong, even though HUD recently announced new FHA mortgage lending revisions.

During the fourth quarter it is expected that 238,000 households will seek refinance loans.  This will be the slowest quarter of the year, down substantially from the 426,000 transactions in the second quarter and 296,000 in the third.  The estimate for the entire year is 1,246,000 mortgage refinance loans.  However, next year with interest rates up and much of the demand for refinancing wrung out of the system the number of refinances is expected to plummet to little more than half the 2009 number; 2010 will be even worse.  Refinancing in the first quarter of 2010 will be 175,000 units compared to 287,000 during the first quarter of this year and the total in Q4 will be 140,000 compared to 238,000 this quarter.  MBA is projecting a total of 693,000 refinances in 2010 is estimated at 693,000 and in 2011 the total will be 591,000.  

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December 11, 2009

California Mortgage Rates Rise

Category: California Mortgage Rates,Mortgage Industry News,Published Articles – admin – 5:12 pm

California homeowners have taken quite a hit in home values over the last few years.  Many local residents are hoping the record low interest rates will help soften their losses.Just a few weeks ago California mortgage rates hit a new all time record low of 4.375% on a 30 year fixed mortgage. The current California mortgage rates have crept up slightly for conventional, FHA, VA and jumbo home loans. As a result the 10 year treasury yield, used to forecast mortgage rates, has also steadily risen over the past 2 weeks and sits at 3.482% as of close on Thursday afternoon. California home prices have stabilized as pending home sales are at a 2 year high.

 

Current California Mortgage Rates

FreeRateUpdate.com reported the latest rates for wholesale mortgage lenders in California mortgage rates shows California interest rates are up from record lows but holding at present levels. The buy rate for California thirty-year fixed rate is currently at 4.75%.  The current rate for California fifteen-year fixed rate is 4.25%, up from 4.125% last week.

 

FHA Mortgage Rates

Check the California FHA Loan Limits for restrictions by county.  Today’s California jumbo 30 year fixed mortgage rate is 5.875%, up from 5.75% last week. California FHA mortgage rates are near record lows. Today’s California FHA mortgage rates start at 4.75% 30 years fixed, up from 4.375% 2 weeks ago.

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September 15, 2009

Federal Reserve Buying Up Bad Mortgage Debt

Category: Home Loan News,Mortgage Brokers,Mortgage Industry News – admin – 2:34 pm

The Federal Reserve, which meets next week to discuss their interest rate policy, is likely to stay the course to buy $1.45 trillion in mortgage loan securities despite potential resistance from a few regional Fed presidents.  Central-bank officials plan to discuss winding down those purchases over the coming months to limit disruption to the market when the buying comes to an end.  Some regional Fed policy makers have suggested the Fed might halt the program before it finishes its purchases of $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and $200 billion in bad credit mortgage debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced in the past year. But they are a small minority across the Fed system.  Top Fed officials believe such a move would tighten overall monetary policy at a time when they still worry about the durability of the economic recovery. The Fed has completed about two-thirds of its purchases, almost $1 trillion worth, and is likely to complete the rest unless prospects for the economy improve radically in the coming months.

 

At the Federal Open Market Committee’s September 22-23 meeting, the central bank’s policy makers including the 12 regional Federal Reserve presidents will assess the early signs of improvement now taking shape across the economy. Officials are encouraged by the rebound in financial-market conditions and initial indications that the housing market is coming out of its recession.  But they are hesitant to bank on a strong recovery. The sizable growth expected in the third quarter is due in part to short-term effects such as companies replenishing inventories and the government’s “cash for clunkers” auto-rebate program. Higher saving by households is casting doubt on consumer spending. And even the moderate growth that Fed officials expect next year wouldn’t be enough to bring down the unemployment rate substantially.  “The economy seems to be brushing itself off and beginning its climb out of the deep hole it’s been in,” San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen said in a speech Monday. “But I regret to say that I expect the recovery to be tepid. What’s more, the gradual expansion gathering steam will remain vulnerable to shocks.”  The economy has so much slack that officials expect core inflation — excluding food and energy — to drift lower next year. Barring a surge in commodity prices or inflation expectations, most Federal Reserve officials see little reason to raise mortgage interest rates from near zero in the first half of next year as futures markets have forecast recently.

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