Last Wednesday afternoon, just as results of the weekly Freddie Mac survey were finalized, mortgage rates dipped. The decline in long term mortgage rates was an effect of rising MBS prices. Mortgage rates move opposite mortgage-backed securities prices. Surprisingly, so far private buyers have successfully filled the void left in mortgage-backed securities markets since the government discontinued their MBS purchasing program on Mar. 31st.
FreeRateUpdate.com research of wholesale lenders' rate sheets shows conventional 30-year fixed mortgages are available today at 4.875% to well-qualified consumers paying a standard .07 to 1 point origination, down from 5% this time last week. 15-yr fixed mortgages are available at 4.25, and 5/1 adjustable rate mortgages at 3.75.
FHA 30-yr fixed loans are available at 4.75%, down from 4.875 last week. Despite the FHA 30-yr rate being slightly better than that of the conforming 30-yr, cost and in turn APR is significantly higher because of MI and other FHA fees.
Jumbo 30-yr fixed mortgages remain available at 5.625%.
Despite rates near all time lows refinance applications are down a whopping 16% according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Purchases, up for the third straight week, now make up half of all applications.
Today's Mortgage Rates:
- 30-yr fixed-rate - 4.875%
- 15-yr fixed-rate - 4.250%
- 5/1 ARM rate - 3.750%
- FHA 30-yr fixed-rate - 4.750%
- FHA 15-yr fixed-rate - 4.50%
- FHA 5/1 ARM rate - 3.750%
- VA 30-yr fixed-rate - 5.000
- Jumbo 30-yr fixed-rate - 5.625%
- Jumbo Conforming 30-yr fixed-rate - 5.250%
Source: freerateupdate.com
Published: April 13, 2010
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 Edward James Ferrara III spent 8 years (2001-2008) brokering and banking home loans in Orange County, CA to the tune of some 500 million dollars in mortgages funded by May of 2008, when he founded the rate research website FreeRateUpdate.com. Ed is not only the founder of FreeRateUpdate.com, he is also a lead contributor to the site, whose roster includes over a dozen writers and of which receives over 50,000 page views per month.
Ed's passion for helping consumers to avoid falling victim to banks dishing out higher rates for bigger profits has helped FreeRateUpdate.com to become a unique authority on mortgage rates. Ed recently married Cheyne Aki Gantt and became a first time father to Edward James Ferrara IV, born August 31st 2009. Ed and FreeRateUpdate.com have recently been cited in numerous media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo Finance, and Marketwatch. |
