Economic update for week ending November 8,2013 This week brought a slight lift to interest rates but they are still well below what they were two months ago. According to the Freddie Mac Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year-fixed rate was up this week slightly to 4.16% from 4.10% . The 15-year-fixed rose to 3.27% from last week’s 3.20%. A year ago the 30-year fixed was at 3.40% and the 15-year was at 2.69%. Jumbo and high ballance conforming are about .375% to .5% higher. The September report fromCoreLogic showed that home prices were up 13% over September 2012, making this the 19th consecutive monthly year-over-year gain in home prices across the country according to the CoreLogic Home Price Index report. Home prices were up 0.2% from August. September is the unofficial mark of the beginning of the housing crisis and in five years the home appreciation nationwide was 3.4%. The index is at its highest level since May 2008. The CoreLogic pending index estimates that October 2013 home prices, including distressed sales, will continue to grow and rise 12.5% from October 2012. The National Association of Realtors released third quarter data on metro home prices showing that home prices continued to rise in most metropolitan areas around the country. The national median price rose at its fastest rate in nearly 8 years, up 12% to $207,300 year over year, which is the strongest rise since the fourth quarter of 2005 when it rose 13.6%. For the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, the median price rose 26.2% year over year from $355,700 to $448,900. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association the number of U.S. homeowners facing foreclosure hit a five year low. Only 5.7% of mortgages on one-to-four unit homes were at least 90 days past due at the end of September, down from 7% in the same period one year before.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 08:57:52 +0000