Mortgage Rates Drop to New Lows Due to ‘QE2’

Nov 19
09:39

2010

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Interest rates on fixed-rate home loans dropped this week. This could be attributed to the market’s positive reaction over US Fed’s QE2 program.

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Fixed rates on mortgages have dropped to a new record low this week,Mortgage Rates Drop to New Lows Due to ‘QE2’ Articles according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by government-sponsored Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or Freddie Mac. This is good news to mortgage borrowers or those individuals who are considering filing for a home loan to buy a new property or refinance an existing loan.

Interest rates on fixed-rate 30-year mortgages averaged 4.17% in November 7 to November 11. This average is down from 4.24% last week and 4.91% in the same period last year. Rates on fixed-rate 15-year mortgages averaged 3.57% this week from 3.63% in the previous week and 4.36% a year ago. It was noted that those were new record lows from 1971 for 30-year home loans and from 1991 for 15-year loans.

Freddie Mac attributed the low interest rates to positive market reaction after the US Federal Reserve System announced on November 3 that it has plans to roll out a second round of overall quantitative easing in the next eight months. This program is dubbed as QE2. It would have the regulator purchase about $600 billion worth of Treasury bonds. QE2 significantly helped push down mortgage rates.

However, analysts noted that the housing industry’s recovery continues on a slow pace despite the historically low levels of mortgage interest rates. They attributed this to tighter credit conditions and household job uncertainties. Major commercial lenders have been tightening their lending standards for the last 16 quarters. Meanwhile, US unemployment rate has remained at around 9.5% for the last 15 months.

The survey of Freddie Mac monitors prime conventional and conforming home loans with down payment of up to 20%. Borrowers with tarnished credit or those that pay smaller down payments generally shoulder higher interest rates. It is emphasized in the survey that numerous borrowers have poor credit ratings that they seldom quality for the most attractive and best mortgage rates.

On the other hand, the weekly application survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association indicated that demand for loans to be used for home purchases increased to 5.5% last week. However, this was still lower than the 14% volume posted in the same period last year. Refinancing applications in the same week was at 6%. MBA said the increase in applications for home purchases came following recent news that herald positive economic prospects.

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