After two weeks of modest increases, mortgage rates drifted down during the week ended August 6 according to results of Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey released on Thursday. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.22 percent for the week compared to 5.25 percent a week earlier...
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [ Return to the blog ] We just said that investors are paying 102% of the face value of a bond in certain cases right? So what happens if they are not interested at that price any more? No more liquidity for the mortgage market. So how do you combat this? In a nutshell...
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [ Return to the blog ] Deciphering the Greek Now that there are graphs and MBS prices posted periodically, we've received numerous questions about the significance of the data. This is intended to be a brief companion to the daily mortgage rate analysis that will...
In order to prevent more foreclosures, Fed Governor Randall Kroszner said lenders should lower mortgage rates and reduce principal for borrowers whose home prices have dropped below their loan values. Testifying before the House Financial Services Panel on Wednesday, Kroszner urged Congress to move quickly...
I can't decide what was more troublesome yesterday: the comically uninformed questions put to Big Ben regarding mortgage rates, or the comically inaccurate article printed by CNBC on the same subject. Whatever the case, the media is awash with analysts, experts, officials, and laypersons offering rather...
Two bits of news reported last week are worth a mention. Fannie Mae announced on Tuesday that it would not be paying over $44.4 million in bonuses to its former and current executives. The bonuses were part of an incentive program that was based on performance targets such as earnings growth. Fannie...
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has spoken out again in favor of limits on the multi-million dollar portfolio holdings of the two biggest players in the mortgage game, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae . In remarks prepared for delivery via satellite to a housing conference in Atlanta, the Chairman...