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After falling to jaw-dropping lows, home mortgage rates rose this week for the third week in a row, according to a new report today.
The rates on 30-year, fixed rate home loans rose to an average 4.46 percent with 0.8 point this week, up from 4.40 percent a week ago, according to the weekly survey by mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The increase comes after the 30-year, fixed-rate loan fell to a record low of 4.17 percent in early November. Get the full story »
Applications for U.S. home mortgages dropped last week as interest rates rose to the highest level since mid-August, driving down applications for refinancing, an industry group said on Wednesday. Get the full story »
Mortgage-related jobs slid in the third quarter, with the biggest net losses occurring in Maryland, Illinois and Oregon, according to an index published by MortgageDaily.com.
With 3,216 layoffs and 2,286 hires, the net loss was 930 jobs. For the first three quarters of the year, there has been a net gain of 524 jobs.
This flattening comes after a modest rebound last year, following two years of dramatic job losses. In 2005, more than half a million people worked in mortgage lending, and less than half are left now, MortgageDaily.com reports. Get the full story »
Rates on fixed mortgages edged up this week, inching further away from the lowest level in decades.
Freddie Mac said Wednesday the average rate for 30-year fixed loans rose to 4.40 percent from 4.39 percent last week. Two weeks ago, the rate hit 4.17 percent, the lowest on records dating to 1971. Get the full story »
Freddie Mac, the second-largest provider of funding for U.S. home mortgages, will raise some loan fees, a sign it sees greater risks even for borrowers making regular payments.
The company, struggling to recover from the worst housing slump since the 1930s, will raise some so-called “delivery fees” in March to cover increased risks on loans for large portions of a property’s value, according to a bulletin dated Monday on its Web site. Get the full story »
Hoping to cut down on fraud and scams tied to the mortgage crisis, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is tightening rules for companies and attorneys who perform loan modification and foreclosure rescue services. Get the full story »
The number of Chicago-area homeowners who received permanent mortgage modifications rose last month, topping 25,000, but the pace at which consumers are being added to that group has slowed dramatically.
The government’s monthly accounting of its Home Affordable Modification Program showed that in the Chicago area, the 25,001 mortgages that received permanently lower payment terms was a 3.1 percent increase from September. On a percentage basis, that’s the smallest monthly gain of the year, and a dramatic drop from the high double-digit gains recorded earlier this year. Get the full story »
Borrowers betting that mortgage rates would fall even further lost out this week. The best rates may be behind them.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 4.39 percent from 4.17 percent, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. The latter’s the lowest level on records dating to 1971. Get the full story »
A quick settlement of the 50-state probe of the U.S. mortgage foreclosure crisis would be the best solution for all involved, the chief executive of Bank of America said on Tuesday.
The call for a settlement by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was followed by comments from Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who told a Senate hearing that a settlement with lenders was still months off.
“We’re thinking in terms of months rather than a year or longer but it depends really on how far we get,” said Miller, who is heading up a probe by all 50 state attorneys general. Get the full story »
North Carolina Banking Commissioner Joseph A. Smith Jr. is being tapped by the White House to head the regulatory agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has been without a permanent director since August 2009. A new director would preside over the mortgage-finance titans just as an intense political battle begins over what should happen to the companies. Get the full story »
Rates on fixed mortgages dropped to their lowest levels in decades this week after the Federal Reserve unveiled a massive bond-buying program to help spur economic growth. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate for 30-year fixed loans fell to 4.17 percent from 4.24 percent last week. That’s the lowest on records dating back to 1971. Get the full story »
The Federal Reserve says it will buy a total of $105 billion worth of government bonds starting later this week as it launches a new program to invigorate the economy. Get the full story »
Applications for mortgages rose last week for the third straight week.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday overall applications increased 5.8 percent from a week earlier, driven by gains in purchase and refinance applications. Get the full story »
The good news is that more than half of Illinois counties saw gains in median home sale prices during the third quarter. The bad news is that most of the Chicago area played no part in that good news.
In Cook County, the median selling price fell 14.3 percent during the three months that ended in September, a combination of a 16.3 percent price decline in condos and a 7.9 percent drop in single-family home prices, according to data released Wednesday by the Illinois Association of Realtors. Other counties that experienced price declines were Kane, where the median price fell 13.3 percent; Kendall, down 8.3 percent; and McHenry, down 3.7 percent. Get the full story »
A home with price reduction on the market in October. (Reuters)
The number of Chicago-area homes with negative equity in the Chicago area continued to rise in the year’s third quarter, a troubling sign for a local housing market struggling to recover.
Some 32.9 percent of all local single-family detached homes with mortgages were underwater in September, meaning the homeowners owed more on the loans than the properties are worth, according to new data from realty Web site Zillow.com. That compares with 30.9 percent in June and 27.2 percent in September 2009. The report does not include data on condominiums. Get the full story »
