According to an analysis of the futures market by the CME Group, the probability that the Fed will hike interest rates tomorrow currently stands at 23 percent with the probability of a rate hike increasing to 63 percent in December. If the market is correct, the rate hike will... Read More »

With employment on the rise and an uptick in economic activity, the Fed appears to be on track for a half-point increase in interest rates by the end of the year with expectations of another full point being added in 2016. The increases should continue to drive mortgage rates, which... Read More »

Since hitting a 2015 high of 3.87 percent last week, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage has been relatively unchanged.  But the 10-year Treasury yield, the basis for the 30-year mortgage rate, jumped around 10 basis points (0.10) this morning on strong jobs data. And while the... Read More »

The average rate for a conforming 30-year mortgage has dropped to 3.73 percent, the lowest rate since May of 2013 when the rate averaged 3.59 percent and 78 basis points below the 4.51 percent average rate at the same time last year. While the Federal Reserve is expected to... Read More »

The average rate for a conforming 30-year mortgage dropped from 3.93 to 3.80 over the past week, the lowest level since May 2013 and 67 basis points below the 4.47 percent average rate at the same time last year. That being said, with the Federal Reserve having rather clumsily... Read More »

The average rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has dropped from 4.23 percent to 4.12 percent over the past three weeks and is back to within 2 basis points of its 2014 low (4.10 percent) and 11 basis points lower than at the same time last year, according... Read More »

The average rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped from 4.12 to 4.23 percent over the past week, the highest rate since the beginning of May and the biggest one-week increase since the beginning of the year. Speculation that the Federal Reserve might start raising rates sooner than expected... Read More »

With indications of a rebound in economic activity in the second quarter and “sufficient underlying strength” to support ongoing improvement in the labor market, Federal Reserve officials have raised the possibility of removing stimulus “sooner than…currently anticipated” but have no immediate plans to ease their current “accommodative” stance and... Read More »

Citing a rebound in economic activity while noting the housing sector remains slow (despite historically low interest rates and rising inventories), the Fed has announced another cut to its bond purchase program which was designed to keep longer-term interest rates low.  With the cut, the Fed is on track... Read More »

While mortgage credit conditions in the U.S. remain “generally tight,” and applications for purchase mortgages remain “tepid,” according to the Fed, signs of easing continue to emerge, including indications of “a net easing of banks’ credit standards for home-purchase loans to prime customers in the first quarter.” The Fed’s... Read More »