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U.S. mortgage applications index drops 3.5% in the week ending August 7

Posted Aug 12th 2009 3:40PM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Indices, Economic data, Personal finance, Housing

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of mortgage applications dropped 3.5% to 499 in the week ending August 7.

Celia Chen of Moody's Economy.com said that higher rates were responsible for the drop off in applications. A 30-year fixed mortgage, excluding fees, stood at 5.38% up .21 from the previous week. Interest rates last year were 6.57%.

Chen went on to say: "The bigger obstacle to home buying is job losses and tight qualifying conditions for borrowing."

Home prices are still under pressure due to growing foreclosures. Moody's Economy.com is expecting 3.85 million defaults this year compared with 2.7 million last year.

Continue reading U.S. mortgage applications index drops 3.5% in the week ending August 7

Hopeful sign with mortgage applications bounce

Posted Oct 29th 2008 2:45PM by Lita Epstein (RSS feed)
Filed under: Housing

Today's news from the Mortgage Bankers Association that mortgage applications jumped from an eight-year low could be a sign that we're starting to see a turnaround in the housing market.

But don't get your hopes up too high if you're trying to sell your house. Many of the mortgages being taken today are being used to purchase foreclosures and short sales. If you're holding on for a better price, you probably have at least a year to wait.

Most economists still predict that we won't see a bottom in the housing market until mid to late 2009. Maybe all the cash being pumped into the system is finally starting to work and will speed up the process.

The good news is that people are back in the market to buy homes. We must clear out the backlog of foreclosures before we'll see any significant jump in sales of new and existing homes. As was reported last week, existing homes sales jumped but prices dropped 9%. That reflects the fact that most of the existing home sales were distressed sales.

Continue reading Hopeful sign with mortgage applications bounce

Mortgage applications spike 32%

Posted Jan 9th 2008 10:35AM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, Good news, Economic data, Housing

Sold sign in front of a homeAfter months and months of dreary news from the worlds of housing and real estate, here's a bit of a pick-me-up: applications for mortgages rose 32.2% during the week of January 4, which was shortened by the New Year's holiday. This was a welcome change, as demand had been heading lower for the three previous weeks.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said in its weekly findings that its overall application index rose to 706 from 533.9 the previous week. Holiday-season volatility could be partially responsible for this jump -- in the week surrounding New Year's Day 2007, the application index was 16.6% higher.

Refinance volume spiked 53.9% during the week, while purchase activity was up 14.7%. Refinance applications accounted for 57.7% of total applications, up from 50.9% the previous week. (With all the speculation surrounding future rate cuts, wouldn't homeowners want to wait and see what happens at the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting in two-plus weeks?)

Continue reading Mortgage applications spike 32%

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Last updated: November 14, 2009: 01:17 PM

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