Mortgage Bonds traded in a tight range throughout the session in the absence of any economic data or major headlines. The 4% coupon closed near unchanged at 103.0. Stocks traded higher early in the day, but did give gains near the close. The Dow finished at 16,469.99 up 28.64 points, the S&P closed near unchanged at 1,831.37 while the Nasdaq fell by 11.16 points to end at 4,131.90. Oil was last seen at $94.18.barrel down $1.32 and lost more than 6% this week. Next week’s economic calendar is light, but the Labor Department will report the closely watched December Jobs Report on Friday morning where it is expected that employers added 197K jobs. We recommend floating, not locking rates into next week.
Weekly Survey of Rates from the Mortgage Bankers Association
For the week ending December 24, 2013. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.64 percent, the highest level since September 2013, from 4.62 percent, with points increasing to 0.41 from 0.38 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to 4.63 percent, the highest level since September 2013, from 4.61 percent, with points remained unchanged at 0.24 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 4.29 percent from 4.25 percent, with points decreasing to 0.24 from 0.32 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.74 percent, the highest level since September 2013, from 3.66 percent, with points decreasing to 0.29 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.
Bernanke: Tapering doesn’t affect Fed’s commitment to low rates
The Federal Reserve remains committed to keeping interest rates low, even as it begins to taper its monthly purchases of bonds, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday.The Federal Reserve is no less committed to highly accommodative policy now that it has trimmed its bond-buying stimulus, Ben Bernanke said on Friday in what could be his last speech as Fed chairman.Bernanke, who steps down as head of the U.S. central bank at month’s end, gave an upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy in coming quarters. But he tempered the good news in housing, finance and fiscal policies by repeating that the overall recovery “clearly remains incomplete” in the United States. Read more
Housing News
Why 2014 is a good year to buy a home
If you didn’t buy a home in 2013, you may be kicking yourself now. Home prices climbed nationally an average of 13.6 percent in the past 12 months, according to Tuesday’s release of the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index. Don’t make the same mistake in 2014, suggests Benjamin Weinstock, real estate attorney and partner at the firm Ruskin Moscou Faltischek in Uniondale, N.Y.