TAG | home loan
11
Federal Reserve: It’s Time the Market Stands on its Own
Comments | Posted by admin in Uncategorized
According to Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Reuters News, April 1 will be the first day that the Federal Reserve will end its debt purchase program and allow the struggling U.S. mortgage market to operate unassisted. As a result, the Fed believes mortgage rates will rise about three-quarters of a percent to about 6 percent, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said Saturday.
Fear of a worldwide perception that the U.S. government is simply printing money to use to purchase mortgage-related securities is a big reason the Fed has pulled back, analysts say. If that fear caused a sell-off of U.S. government bonds, it would push borrowing costs substantially higher and derail the economic recovery.
“We are still in uncharted waters,” Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said in an unrelated speech Saturday. “We will need to be flexible and adjust as we gain experience.”
31
Mortgage Rates Expected to Rise when FED Stops Purchase Program
Comments | Posted by admin in Uncategorized
According to a recent Bloomberg article, Mortgage bonds are poised to slump after a record rally as the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented buying of $1.25 trillion of the securities ends as soon as March, driving up interest rates on new home loans.
Rising mortgage bond yields mean loan rates are likely to end 2010 almost 0.75 percentage point higher than current levels, based on forecasts for government bonds and spreads, adding to challenges for a housing market struggling to recover from its worst slump since the 1930s.
Existing-home sales rose again in November as first-time buyers rushed to close sales before the original November 30 deadline for the recently extended and expanded tax credit, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 7.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 6.54 million units in November from 6.09 million in October, and are 44.1 percent higher than the 4.54 million-unit pace in November 2008. Current sales remain at the highest level since February 2007 when they hit 6.55 million. Read More at Realtor.org.
