Are lower rates gone forever?

WHAT HAPPENED? That is the question we are all going to here. There are a lot of market forces right now pulling rates up and down faster than a teeter-totter - so who thinks rates will go up and who thinks they will come back down???

I say they come back to earth.

I say they move back under 5%, but they wont go below 4.5% again. 

Victor Burek:

I say they move back under 5%, but they wont go below 4.5% again. 

I'm definitely on this end of the spectrum...the stock market will rally foolishly over the summer, until we get that one big eye-opener of an event that reminds all the idiots how bad our economy is and how long this recovery is going to take...

We are not in a typical recession that you can throw low rates and money at and everything will be all right...it's going to take a little while to get out of this...hopefully our (taxpayer) money is not wasted too much by high rates this summer - the time you want rates low to try get some type of floor in home prices...

Victor Burek:

I say they move back under 5%, but they wont go below 4.5% again. 

I think we will get to the 4.625-4.75% range again. 

When will they go back down do you suppose...fall?

I can see under 5 - I don't think there is any way lower than 4.5

Depends. MBS has realigned with other market forces (IE Treasuries and Stock Levers) - we most likely wont see a rally in rates until the equities market cools off. That will probably be mid 3rd quarter to end of the year (guessing). I was hoping sooner but the unfettered optimism in Equities has gotten in the way quite a bit

4's very possible and likely.  Remember windows and volitility.

Bigger question may be why Lenders and Banks haven't rallied behind Brokers?

I think Lenders have not rallied behind brokers (yet) because there is still finger pointing and misdirected blame going on. The role of the broker will once again dominate in the future

Looks like TBW is forced to disagree...

I still say the biggest metric of broker viability is wells perennial "remain committed to wholesale channel stance"

I'd like to buy what Matt is selling but I'm still stinging from WaMu's "The Year of the Broker" campaign that happened right before they went down the toilet.  Marketing is marketing always.  While there may be truth in it, it is not a guarantee of future results.