Breaking News! 30-Year Mortgage Rate Slips to 5.69%Details soon.

CNNMONEY ^ | 10/21/2004 | CNN

[kellynla]

30-year mortgage rate slips to 5.69 percent, lowest in six months. Details soon.

[kellynla]

Refi time

[Phantom Lord]

Phantom Lord <--- Mortgage Professional. It is time to refi or go ahead with that purchase.

If you live in NC contact me.

Sorry for the shameless plug.

[Phantom Lord]

Ping!

[kellynla]

Mortgage rates hit 6-month low

30-year fixed-rate loan falls to 5.69 percent; low rates spur fresh jump in applications.
October 21, 2004: 11:00 AM EDT



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Long-term mortgage rates fell again this week to the lowest level in six months, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

The rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.69 percent in the week ended Thursday, with an average 0.7 of a point payable up front, down from last week when it averaged 5.74 percent.

The 15-year mortgage rate eased to 5.07 percent this week from 5.14 percent last week, also with 0.6 of a point up front. Last year, the average rate stood at 5.36 percent.

[ChadGore]

Interest rates are low. Thank You GWB !

[IndianPrincessOK]

does this have something to do with the elections?? Or the economy? Whatever the reason, great news!

[RockinRight]

If you live in Ohio, contact me!

Another shameless ping.

[i cant stand it]

Any one in NY that has advice on purchas witn not so great credit?

[Phantom Lord]

Any one in NY that has advice on purchas witn not so great credit?

Yes. Leave NY.

[freeperfromnj]

There has been nothing but good news on the economy this week. Corporate earnings way up, mortgage interest down, unemployment down. I can't understand why the markets aren't reflecting the good news.

[freepertoo]

Okay, which mortgage refinancers here from Maryland could use a new client? :-D Send me a private message...let's talk!

[Crawdad]

Today's Rates

Mtg Loan Rate APR
30-yr Fixed 5.27% 5.39%
15-yr Fixed 4.68% 4.86%
1-yr Adj 3.21% 4.74%
Rates by Metro/State:
---This from Yahoo-Finance.

[i cant stand it]

Good advice...LOL

[KidGlock]

I will believe it when I see it in my junk email box.

[PatrickHenry]

Sounds good, but to counter this, the Kerry campaign will announce that Bush has secret intentions to: (a) introduce the draft; (b) repeal social security; (c) impose indentured servitude of the poor; (d) take away the women's vote; and (e) crown himself king.

[Tax-chick]

You've got FReepmail.

[kellynla]

I can't understand why the markets aren't reflecting the good news.
election jitters, the possibility of another terrorist's attack before the election, high crude prices...I could go on and on... :-)

[tmp02]

Signs of Depression. Mortgage firm, like Fanny Mae, are in deep do do. This can be seen by creating a 40 year mortage. In Japan, they came up with a 100 year mortgage...so you could pass the debt off to you children... These are all signs that Americans are up to their eyes in debt. After heavy refi occurred the last two years, people are all taped out and are trying to repay the bank with credit card debt. The spiral has begun. We will see the rate continue to go down. We are also see the prices of house going down. Mortgage firms need to have continual money coming in so the keep dropping the rate... and so is the Fed (with his debt press).

[Non-Sequitur]

Where have they been? I refinanced at 5.5% two weeks ago, and I was annoyed that I missed the 5.25% rates by about a week (I didn't get the application in until after the Fed raised the interest rate.)

[kellynla]

sorry, I just post the news...
you'll have to file your complaint with your lender.LOL

[Lijahsbubbe]

I agree with your assessment.

[Arrowhead1952]

TDIDS

[taxcontrol]

Needs to get down to 4.5% before I refinance.

[tmp02]

Don't worry. It will get much lower...

[KC_for_Freedom]

Mortgage firms need to have continual money coming in so the keep dropping the rate... and so is the Fed (with his debt press).

You don't understand the mortgage situation, the mortgage companies are lowering rates because there is very loose money from the FED and they are awash in it. They make their money on the interest rate difference between what they pay for money and what the borrowers pay for their loans. These companies are not hurting because they are making low interest loans, they work off the "difference" and they have control of that.

Now people have too much debt, but that is a personal bankruptcy issue. To see whether it is a doom scenario, watch whether you or your neighbor are out of work. Thats what it depends on.

[July 4th]

I'm still a couple of years away from buying a house, but I still love these low rates. My student loan consolidation this year means I've got $70k to pay back over the next 25 years at a whopping 2.5%.

[WildTurkey]

Sorry for the shameless plug.

How much will I save if I refi now? I presently have 29 years left on my 5.35% thirty year mortgage.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

The low rates will spur Q1 2005 to 5% gdp growth.

If oil were to pull back to the low $40s, we could get 7% growth in the first half of 2005.

That would lower the deficit substantially and heat up job growth.

[tomahawk]

I agree with you.

[tmp02]

I agree with you...but banks are having problems with bad investments and their own debt. That's why they need to create more mortgages, hoping that their debt will be easily be payed of in the future.

[kellynla]

7% growth?
Kermit the Frog Greenspam would raise rates to quell that

[kinsman redeemer]

Ping.

[lelio]

After heavy refi occurred the last two years, people are all taped out and are trying to repay the bank with credit card debt.

On CNBC the other day they bought this up to a banker (I think she represented Wells Fargo) that pooh-poohed this notion by saying that only 1/3rd of people have taken out home equity loans. So there you go, there's plenty of other ways to get into debt!

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Don't forget 2003....Q3...8%......Q4....4.7%

[Phantom Lord]

Needs to get down to 4.5% before I refinance.

You either have an exceptionally low rate right now, or are holding out for the impossible.

[taxcontrol]

Locked in 5.5% for 30 years. In order for the change to be worth it to me, it needs to drop by a full point.

[Phantom Lord]

If you have a 30 year fixed at 5.375% then a refinance is not for you. Unless you are in a situation where you know for a fact you will be in a new home within 5 years. Then a no cost refi with a 5/1 ARM would be in your interest.

[kellynla]

MONEY.CNN continued:

Rates haven't been this low since April 1, when the when the 30-year fixed-rate stood at 5.52 percent and the 15-year was at 4.84 percent.

"Treasury bond yields eased somewhat this week, causing long-term mortgage rates to drift a little lower from last week," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist. "Lower mortgage rates, in turn, caused mortgage application activity to increase last week in both the refinance and home-purchase sectors.

"Meanwhile, housing starts took a breather in September, following the robust pace set in August."

One-year adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.02 percent, up slightly from 4.01 percent the week prior, with 0.7 of a point payable up front.

At this time last year, the average rate for ARMs was 3.79 percent.

Freddie Mac's (up $0.14 to $65.18, Research) average mortgage rates are based on a survey of 125 lenders nationwide.

[Phantom Lord]

Locked in 5.5% for 30 years. In order for the change to be worth it to me, it needs to drop by a full point.

Depends on many factors. Will you be moving in the next few years? If so, refinancing to a short term ARM would be advisable.

If you could do a no cost refi at 5.125% and save $50 a month it would be worth it as it didnt cost you a dime.

The variables of different situations determine if someone with an already low rate should refinance to a slightly lower rate.

[Howlin]

Thank You Elliott Spitzer

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:n0lgJtEWa-AJ:www.optioninvestor.com/marketing/marketwrap.asp+elliott+spitzer&hl=en

[SierraWasp]

Bulletins from http://BigCharts.MarketWatch.com:
12:00 NewsWatch: U.S. stocks gain ground; blue chips bounce off lows
12:00 Bernanke: Rise in energy prices is 'manageable'
12:00 Fed's Bernanke: Rate hike likely at 'measured' pace
12:00 Bernanke: Rise in energy prices cut 0.5%-0.75% off GDP
12:00 Bernanke: 'Days of persistently cheap oil are over'

[eskywalter]

I locked in earlier this month at 5.25% with one point. Should I check if my lender will let me relock? I believe there is a $300 fee. I close the 29th of this month.

30-year fixed

[WildTurkey]

I was just jesting you for your 'shameless plug'.

[Howlin]

Anybody here can tell you I am the absolute last person to ask about anything to do with the economy.

Ask Phantom Lord!

[taxcontrol]

No planning on moving and I don't do ARMs - period.

Let see, save $50 per month for 28 years (30 year fixed would push out the payments an extra 2 years) is a grand total savings of $16,800. IF, it is a zero cost, then sure, that might be worth the hassle. But I'm looking for close to $100 per month in savings.

[SierraWasp]

There are some on FR that praise this little prig, Elliot "Thinks he's Ness" Spitzer, and actually believe he's doing "good!" I'm aghast at the ignorance of his politically motivated devastation of traditional Republican stronghold industries!!!

[Southack]

Yesterday, the 10 yr Treasury closed at 4%. Last night, traders in Tokyo knocked it down to 3.98%, where it remains today.

Historically, the movers of interest rates were American; that's not really the case right now, however.

What's going on is that export nations like Japan, India, and China are awash in U.S. Dollars due to their trade surpluses with the U.S.

The central banks involved have pretty limited options, as do the global conglomerates. If they flood the Market with Dollars, then the U.S. Dollar drops in value on foreign exchange markets; that would be disastrous for export nations because it would then take more U.S. Dollars to purchase the same foreign goods and services.

So they don't want to flood the Market with Dollars!

Their choices, then, other than flooding the Market, are to either hoard Dollars inside bank vaults or to purchase U.S. government debt.

Well, the more government debt that they purchase, such as the 10 year Treasury, the lower interest rates go down here in the U.S.

Treasury rates are the inverse of their purchase price, after all. The higher the price for Treasuries, the lower the interest rate.

And so with supply and demand, the more demand, the higher the price. So international traders are bidding up the prices of U.S. Treasuries...and that makes interest rates go down.

The 10 year Treasury is currently the most popular reference point for home mortgage loans, too (followed closely by the LIBOR rate).

So the more that demand ramps up for the 10 year Treasury, the lower home mortgage rates go.

...And right now you can roughly calculate the future demand for 10 year Treasuries based upon our current account deficit with our big international trading partners.

In other words, for the present environment at least, the bigger the trade deficit, the lower U.S. home mortgage rates will go down.

Lower interest rates here in the U.S. likewise help fuel (somewhat) a number of economic activities such as home construction and higher home resale prices.

This is not to say that trade deficits are good, it's just to say that there are some interesting side effects from such a malady.

[Phantom Lord]

No planning on moving and I don't do ARMs - period.

Not doing ARMs is a personal decision, and often the wrong one. ARMs have out performed Fixed for the past 25 years. Period.

[Howlin]

As I said above, I did NOT get the economic gene passed to me (in fact, although I have watched it hundreds of times, I STILL do not understand why Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd bought orange juice futures in Trading Places), I happen to catch this on Cavuto yesterday; just Cavuto's TONE was enough to alarm me.

Of course it's political. Look at the calendar.

[Southack]

c#47