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After the release of the Treasury debt statement, benchmark yields rose and MBS prices fell. This forced many lenders to reprice for the worse. After the reprices for the worse, lender rate sheets are worse than yesterday. The best par 30 year conventional rate mortgage does remain in the 4.75% to 5.00% range for well qualified consumers though, it will just cost a few more basis points at the closing table. ...

Reports from fellow mortgage professionals indicate lender rate sheets to be marginally worse when compared to Friday afternoon pricing. However the best par 30 year fixed conventional mortgage rate does remain in the 4.75% to 5.00% range for well qualified consumers. Mortgage rates are more or less holding steady near the lowest levels of 2010 even as benchmark Treasury yields have risen. If you have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to refinance, now is the time. The Fed is about to end its MBS purchase program at the end of the month, while we do not expect mortgage rates to skyrocket, we do anticipate they will move steadily higher. ...

Improvements over the course of the week have led mortgage rates back toward the lows of 2010. While floating is really tempting, if I only had one loan to float, I would lock it. If I had 10 in my pipeline, I would float 3 and lock 7. I am still not convinced lenders will offer mortgage rates below 4.75% in 2010....

I have been advising LOCK all week ahead of the Employment Situation Report, which will be released at 8:30am tomorrow morning. While there have been many whispers for both job losses and job creation, economists are very mixed about the outlook. Worse than expected jobs numbers benefit MBS prices and lead to lower mortgage rates while better than expected data leads to higher mortgage rates. Despite what I believe is a good chance of a bad report tomorrow, I am still advising to lock loans today. If the jobs data is worse than expected, rates could decline, but lenders have proven slow to pass along better rates so there is not much room for rates to fall further. If the jobs number is better than forecast or "on the screws", rates will rise quickly, ESPECIALLY AFTER TODAY'S RALLY. In my opinion, there is little reward and MUCH RISK in floating. Mortgage rates are near their best levels in over a month, still locking. ...

With lenders still offering the best rates we've seen in over a month and further progress unknown in the rates market, I think most should consider locking in their mortgage rate. As I said yesterday, we have picked up significant gains this week, by locking now you take advantage of those gains and remove risks of rising rates. At this point, without a fundamental shift in investor sentiment or the economy, it is going to be very difficult for mortgage rates to move much lower. In my opinion you do not have much to gain by floating. Also like yesterday, I am not totally against floating into tomorrow, but do feel the recent price gains warrant locking in loans. If you do decide to continue floating, you should be re-evaluating your stance on a daily basis. ...

Mortgage rates have been stuck in a back and forth battle all week. We started the new year with improvements which carried over into Tuesday only to see positive momentum fizzle out yesterday morning after the St. Louis Federal Reserve released a paper titled:INFLATION MAY BE THE NEXT DRAGON TO SLAY. The bond market was not a fan of this commentary as inflation is one of the main enemies of mortgage rates. Benchmark Treasury yields ticked higher and mortgage backed security prices fell after the research hit news wires. Plummeting MBS prices then forced lenders to reprice for the worse. Since that sell off, all of the progress made in the first half of the week has been lost. If you are interested AQ wrote a Plain and Simple explanation of the events that unfolded. READ MORE This was not unexpected ahead of tomorrow's release of the Employment Situation Report (Non-Farm Payrolls). Typically the rates market goes into a holding pattern ahead of major data releases...this week has been no different. Yesterday I referred to the recent trend as "two steps forwards, two steps back"....this phrase sums it up pretty well for mortgage rates. After much commotion we are no better or no worse from where we ended 2009.I do however remind of the CROSSROADS mortgage rates are at. ...