5/1 Jumbo Arm
2.689% APR
Mortgage Rates continued their sideways to slightly lower pattern being supported by the Federal Reserve’s daily buying of Mortgage Bonds. Also helping Mortgage Rates is the weakness in Stocks. For now, Mortgage Rates are in a longer-term sideways trend as well as an intermediate trend lower.
However, this can change quickly as there is speculation that the Fed will do another round of Quantitative Easing (QE3), possibly as soon as the spring. The after effects of QE1 & QE 2 actually increased Mortgage Rates due to concerns of inflation, and the fueling of Equities and Commodities. Therefore, it may be prudent to lock into rates before any formal announcement from the Fed.
On Tuesday afternoon MetLife — the folks who market their business using Snoopy, Linus and Charlie Brown – handed out pink slips to 4,300 mortgage workers. The very next morning Met Life published a statement saying the company bought a luxury rental apartment building (29 stories and 249 units) in Chicago’s North River neighborhood. Clearly, met Life has more confidence in the rental market than the home buying market. Maybe MetLife’s laid off mortgage workers can move into a rental once they lose their homes.
Housing
Incremental Improvement for the housing sector is likely in 2012 according to economists at Fannie Mae. The second half of the year should outpace the first six months in terms of growth, though fiscal policy and political uncertainty in Washington will likely drive consumer and business activity, the mortgage giant said. Chief Economist Doug Duncan said positive consumer activity and challenges in housing and the global economy will equate to moderate growth for the year. “We’re entering 2012 with decent momentum, especially on the employment side, which is fostering positive household and consumer behavior,” Duncan said in a release. “Unfortunately, we expect this momentum to slow as we move through the first half of the year.” Pending Home Sales continued to gain in November and reached the highest level in 19 months, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Economic News
Initial Jobless Claims rose by 24,000 in the latest week to 399,000, the highest level since November.
Consumer Sentiment for January increased to a reading of 74.0, up for 69.9 in December. This marks the 5th consecutive month of gains since the 2011 low of 55.7.
Banks Filed Foreclosures on roughly 205,000 homes in December, the lowest monthly total since November 2007, according to RealtyTrac, which said the 1.8 million