Category — mortgage
Good News for Home Buyers
Real estate prices in the Case-Shiller 10-city index have dropped 30% from the peak in 2005. Declines this steep have not been seen since the great depression. Mortgage rates have also declined and this along with current prices are a great combination for buyers.
According to expert studies, there has not been better deals with mortgage/pricing since the early 90s. If you buy an average home today, and take out a 30-year mortgage at 5%, the annual bill for interest and repayment of principal will come to about 19 times typical weekly earnings (If you get the $8,000 refundable tax credit too, it drops below 18 times). As you can see from the bottom chart, we haven’t seen it that low since the early 1970s. In his article Latest Home Price Data Is Good News for Buyers, Brett Arends states that, “The Case-Shiller 10-city data go back to 1987. I ran the numbers comparing the index values, mortgage rates and average weekly earnings. Net conclusion: On average–an important point I’ll return to shortly–buying a home now is as cheap as it was in the mid-1990s, when houses were an absolute steal. No, the Case-Shiller data aren’t perfect. The biggest complaint is that they are weighted too much towards the coasts and the big “bubble” cities like Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix. So I decided to run the same analyses–average prices, mortgage rates and weekly earnings–for the home price data tracked by the U.S. Census. Those numbers go back further than Case-Shiller, to 1972. “ The charts below represent Arend’s study:
January 1, 2010 No Comments
Short Sale Guidelines
The Obama Administration set guidelines for financially troubled borrowers to sell their homes last week. The government created these guidelines to encourage the use of short sales.
To put it simply using a definition from the Wall Street Journal, a short sale is a transactions in which the borrower with lender approval sells the home for less than what is owed on the loan. Short Sales are often less damaging to a neighborhood’s property values than a foreclosure would be. The program makes it easier for borrowers to voluntarily transfer ownership of properties through a “deed in lieu” of foreclosure.
This plan will award borrowers $1500 from the government if they sell their home for less than they owe on it. This is the newest addition to Obama’s $75 billion foreclosure prevention plan.
Call 252-261-3800 or email sales@seasiderealty.com to speak with a short sales specialist.
December 9, 2009 No Comments
Low Mortgage Rates Helping Stabilize Housing Market
Freddie Mac has recently released the results of the Primary Mortgage Survey that shows the 30-year fixed mortgage average at 5.14%. At this time last year, the 30 year fixed mortgage averaged 6.4%. The 15-year mortgage average for this week averaged 4.58%, and last year the 15-year was at 5.93%. Five year adjustable rate mortgage averaged 4.67%, which has also been steadily decreasing.
“Long-term mortgage rates were barely changed this week, remaining historically low, which is helping to sustain a high level of affordability in the home-purchase market,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.
Low rates contributed to existing home sales rising for the fourth consecutive month to an annual pace of 5.24 million in July, the most since August 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Similarly, new home sales rose for the fourth month in a row to 0.4 million, the strongest pace since September 2008, the Commerce Department reported. The sales gain helped to reduce the number of new unsold houses on the market to the lowest amount since March 1993. In addition, house prices in June rose nationally for the second consecutive month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s purchase-only house price index.
September 2, 2009 No Comments
Outer Banks Real Estate Snapshot
August 24, 2009 1 Comment
Mortgage Rates Drop for Second Straight Week
As of July 1, the weekly average rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace for 30-year fixed mortgages decreased last week to 5.48%, down from 5.58% the week prior, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor, compiled by real estate website Zillow.com®. Meanwhile, rates for 15-year fixed mortgages fell to 4.87% from 5.01%, and 5-1 adjustable rate mortgages also fell to 4.65%, down from 4.73 the week prior.
Mortgage Type Average Rate Average Rate
Week ending 6/29/09 Week ending 6/21/09 % Change
30-year fixed 5.48% 5.58% -1.8%
15-year fixed 4.87% 5.01% -2.8%
5-1 ARM 4.65% 4.73% -1.7%
As of June 29, rates for 30-year fixed purchase mortgages dropped further, with the average rate on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 5.34%.
Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates varied by state. Missouri mortgage rates, Virginia mortgage rates and California mortgage rates decreased the most, from 5.61% to 5.48% in Missouri, from 5.57 to 5.45 in Virginia and from 5.57% to 5.45% in California. Illinois mortgage rates and Massachusetts mortgage rates were the highest, each at 5.57%. Georgia mortgage rates were the lowest, at 5.42%.
State Average 30-yr. Average 30-yr.
Fixed Rate Fixed Rate
Week ending 6/29/09 Week ending 6/21/09 % Change
Arizona 5.48% 5.58% -1.8%
California 5.45% 5.57% -2.2%
Colorado 5.45% 5.55% -1.8%
Connecticut 5.47% 5.59% -2.1%
Florida 5.44% 5.50% -1.1%
Georgia 5.42% 5.52% -1.8%
Illinois 5.57% 5.64% -1.2%
Maryland 5.52% 5.61% -1.6%
Massachusetts 5.57% 5.68% -1.9%
Michigan 5.50% 5.57% -1.3%
Missouri 5.48% 5.61% -2.3%
New Jersey 5.49% 5.59% -1.8%
New York 5.54% 5.62% -1.4%
North Carolina 5.50% 5.60% -1.8%
Ohio 5.56% 5.64% -1.4%
Oregon 5.50% 5.58% -1.4%
Pennsylvania 5.47% 5.56% -1.6%
Texas 5.45% 5.55% -1.8%
Virginia 5.45% 5.57% -2.2%
Washington 5.46% 5.53% -1.3%
The Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor is compiled each week using thousands of mortgage rates for conforming loans quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace by mortgage lenders to borrowers who have submitted loan requests. State-level data is gathered for the top 20 states with the highest quote volume on Zillow.
For more information, visit www.zillow.com/Mortgage_Rates/.
July 9, 2009 No Comments
