Tag Archives: interest rates

No Relief Yet With Pending Sales

The Mortgage Corner We can’t yet count on Pending Home Sales, a predictor of closings in 60 to 90 days, to predict a boost to this year’s sales. They have been falling since last July, and the last spike in … Continue reading

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New-Home Sales In Seasonal Decline?

The Mortgage Corner Sales of newly built, single-family homes fell 7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 414,000 units in December, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. … Continue reading

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2013 Home Sales Highest Since 2006

The Mortgage Corner The National Association of Realtors (NAR) just reported that for all of 2013, there were 5.09 million sales, which is 9.1 percent higher than 2012. It was the strongest performance since 2006 when sales reached an unsustainably … Continue reading

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Consumer Debt At Record Lows

Financial FAQs The Federal Reserve just released the Q2 2013 Household Debt Service and Financial Obligations Ratios. The overall Debt Service Ratio decreased in Q2 2013, and is just above the record low set in Q4 2012 thanks to very … Continue reading

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Mortgage Delinquencies Continue Decline

The Mortgage Corner Freddie Mac reported that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate declined in August to 2.64 percent from 2.70 percent in July.   This has in large part to do with lower interest rates, which have declined again because the … Continue reading

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Case-Shiller Home Prices Take Off

The Mortgage Corner The July S&P Case-Shiller home price index shows home prices are in full recovery mode. Over the last 12 months, prices rose 12.3 percent and 12.4 percent as measured by the 10- and 20-City Composites in the … Continue reading

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Housing Starts, Builder Confidence Improve

Popular Economics Weekly Housing made somewhat of a comeback in July and taking into account wet weather on the East coast should be taken as stronger than face value.  Housing starts in July rebounded 5.9 percent after falling 7.9 percent … Continue reading

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What’s The Fed To Do?

Popular Economics Weekly Why the debate over who should be the next Federal Reserve Chairman? There is a tug of war going on between inflation ‘doves’ and ‘hawks’ within the Fed. The debate is whether inflation is or will be … Continue reading

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Pending Home Sales Soaring As Well

The Mortgage Corner Watch out, homebuyers! There may be few homes left on the market if the National Association of Realtors’ May Pending Home Sales Index is any predictor of future sales. This is even though mortgage rates have risen … Continue reading

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Whither Mortgage Rates?

The Mortgage Corner Ok, the fats in the fire now with the Fed saying it will begin to taper its QE3 purchases that have been holding down mortgage rates by the end of 2013. Rates have been surging since then. … Continue reading

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