Pending home sales posted a strong increase in November, rising to their highest level in more than a year and a half, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has reported.
Read More at MortgageLoan.com
Read more:
Pending Home Sales Jump
Trends in home remodeling are showing their greatest improvement in over four years, although tight credit and a lack of home equity continue to restrain demand.
Read More at MortgageLoan.com
More here:
Home Improvement Trends Looking Up
Long-term U.S. home price trends continued to weaken in January, with many cities posting new post-crash lows, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
Read More at MortgageLoan.com
View original here:
Home Prices Still Weakening
It was the fourth consecutive week of increases for the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from Mortech Inc. and MortgageDaily.com.
Behind the week’s rise was a 10 percent increase in refinance activity.
Also improved were mortgage rates, the jumbo-conforming spread and the spread between the 15- and 30-year mortgages.
Source:
Another Good Week for Originators
Homebuilders are looking ahead to the spring buying season with slightly more optimism than before, but their overall outlook remains glum.
Read More at MortgageLoan.com
See the rest here:
Tight Credit Limits Home Construction
Fears of a nuclear meltdown in earthquake-ravaged Japan had investors nervous Tuesday.
In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 250 points.
As investors fled to the relative safety of U.S. Treasuries, the price was up 1 1/32 on the 10-year Treasury.
The latest U.S. Mortgage Market Index gained 2 percent from the prior week’s report.
Refinance and purchase activity were both up marginally.
But the number of inquiries for adjustable-rate mortgages jumped.
Excerpt from:
Mortgage Market Gains
In February, the Monthly Treasury Average edged down less than a basis point, according to Federal
Mortgage rates repeated last week’s retreat.
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortage was 8 basis points lower than last week in Freddie Mac’s survey.
But an analysis of 10-year Treasury activity indicates mortgage rates might be higher next week.
Excerpted from:
Improving Rates to Reverse Course
The Cost of Funds Index fell 3 basis points between December and January, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco reported.
Compared to January 2010, the index was down 31 BPS.
The last time COFI was this low was in October 2009.
View original here:
COFI Continues Cooling