Rates have fallen again, but this time analysts don’t think they will stay low for log. I found this tidbit in my monthly Realtor Magazine online:
Signs of improving economic conditions could lead Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke to raise key interest rates, driving up mortgages, said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC.
The evidence includes more consumers are paying their bills on time. Past-due accounts at American Express declined 34 percent compared to a year ago, and Target Corp. reported its lowest delinquency rate in two years during the second quarter.
In another sign of economic improvement, fewer banks reported tightening lending standards this month, one reason consumer borrowing rose for the second time in three months.
“If lending standards start to stabilize, that’ll be another reason to remove the emergency measures, including the zero rate,” said Jay Bryson, a senior global economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, who formerly worked at the Fed in Washington.
Source: Bloomberg, By Bob Willis and Anthony Feld (05/28/2010)
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slid 4 basis points, to 4.92 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. The new rate is the lowest in the nearly 25-year history of the weekly Bankrate survey, eclipsing the previous record set last week.
Meanwhile, this week’s average 15-year fixed-rate — a popular option for refinancing — remained unchanged, at a Bankrate survey record-low 4.34 percent.
[SOURCE: Bankrate.com]
