Mortgage rates hit yet another record low

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“Mortgage demand got a lift from another big drop in mortgage rates. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of up to $510,400 decreased to 3.19% from 3.26%. Points, including the origination fee, decreased to 0.33 from 0.35 for loans with a 20% down payment.

Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly rate moves, jumped 12% for the week and were 107% higher than a year ago. The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 64.2% of total applications from 60.1% the previous week. Record low rates caused Fannie Mae to improve its housing outlook for the second half of this year.(CNBC)

“The continued decline in mortgage rates pushed up our refinance volume forecast by about $100 billion,.” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s chief economist. “At the current mortgage rate, we estimate that nearly 60% of all outstanding loan balances have at least a half-percentage point incentive to refinance.”

The biggest hurdles to homebuying today are lack of supply and rising prices, especially on the lower end of the market. The nation’s homebuilders are benefiting from that. Mortgage applications to purchase a newly built home were up over 50% in June annually. Builders, however, are struggling to keep up with the new demand, especially since they basically shut down their operations in March and April.  (CNBC),

As I mentioned with last week’s release, buyers in our area with good credit and a minimum 20% deposit can find 30-year rates at or even a little under 3%. And 15-year rates as low as 2.5%.

Please call if you would like an introduction to a bank offering these low rates.

Inventory chronically low; demand booming
Goodbye Boston, Hello Marblehead

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REALTOR®

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