30-year mortgage rates are still averaging a rock-bottom 4%. The applications to purchase homes rose after Thanksgiving to the highest level in four months.
With Freddie Mac’s weekly report on home lender offerings released Thursday it showed the typical rate for a 30-yearloan at 3.99%, the sixth straight week at or slightly below 4%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed loan averaged 4.61%.
Fifteen-year fixed-rate home loans, a popular option for people refinancing homes, averaged 3.27%, down from last week’s 3.3%. A year ago, the 15-year loan averaged 3.96% according to Freddie Mac.
The typical mortgage rate for larger “jumbo” loans are running about a third of a percentage point higher, according toanother report this week from the Mortgage Bankers Assn. Jumbo loans are priced higher because lenders can’t sell them to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae These other big government-sponsored mortgage buyer.
Offering a bit of hope for housing at a time when foreclosures are drawing angry protests and government investigations, the mortgage bankers said applications for loans to buy houses reached the highest level since early August.
Refinances still made up about three-quarters of all applications for home loans, however.
A closely watched survey reported Tuesday that U.S. single-family home prices declined in September. This report highlight’s the fragility of a market as it struggles to get back on its feet.
As reported by The S&P/Case Shiller composite index, 20 metropolitan areas fell 0.6 percent from August on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Prices in August were also revised to show a decline of 0.3 percent after originally being reported as unchanged.
The broader trend here is that it appears that home prices over the last few months continue to get weaker.
This ties in with the current consumer attitude that has gotten a lot of more negative, particularly when it comes to making a long-term commitment, such as buying a home.
The index has leveled off in recent months and analysts are hoping the market is at least stabilizing.
Also over the last year home prices in most cities drifted lower, but the plunging collapse of prices seen in 2007-2009 appears to be behind us. Any chance for a sustained recovery will probably need a stronger economy.
The report also pointed out that third quarter prices were down 1.2 percent from the previous quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis and were down 3.9 percent from the third quarter a year ago.
Compared to a year ago, price declines in the 20 cities continued to improve in September and were down 3.6 percent after a year over year decline of 3.8 percent the month before.
The California Association has reported that California’s housing market displayed a glimmer of recovery during October as pending sales increased for the sixth consecutive month.
The number of open escrows, a measure of future sales activity, jumped 11 percent in October from a year earlier and rose 3 percent from September.
It appears that home sales are likely to be up in the next couple of months. The report states that they are not anticipating a decline in sales but they’re not looking for any sort of a dramatic increase.
Home sales statewide this year should be in the 490,000 range and California is grinding through sales at a pretty decent clip.
The association’s report came on the same day that the National Association of Realtors reported an annualized sales rate of 4.97 million homes in October, up 1.4 percent from September and 13.5 percent from a year ago.
Sales in the west rose 4 percent to an annual pace of 1.19 million in October, which is 15.5 percent higher than a year earlier.
It was also reported that sales in California increased 8.5 percent from a year earlier and rose 1 percent from September to an annualized rate of 493,240 properties.
It was also noted that the conforming loan limit just went back up to $729,500, which could stimulate activity at the higher end of the market.
Another good sign is that some lenders are moving quicker in approving short sale transactions.
Sales of distressed properties also appear to be stabilizing, according to the association.
Last month, foreclosed or abandoned properties accounted for 44.8 percent of sales, up from 44.5 percent in September but down from 46.1percent a year earlier.
