Okay, you recall the chart I put up the other day about increasing delinquencies in Fannie’s portfolio? And you recall the fact that Fannie Mae recently rolled out new guidelines that tightened down their underwriting guidelines (the memo took 20 pages). And you know that FHA recently announced that they intend to go to Congress by the end of January with rules and changes to bring them back within compliance (that’s a fancy way of saying that they need a LOT more cash). Oh and on Christmas Eve, the Treasury pulls the Thursday night massacre and essentially hands their checkbook ...

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Looking back on 2009, it appears that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was on a roller coaster ride.  The rate dipped below 5.0% for much of January, then it spiked up and down during the spring before taking a long drop to a near all-time low of 4.56% on November 30th.    The roller coaster is headed back up again, and this time it may be a steep climb.  The Mortgage Bankers’ Association forecasts that 30-year mortgage rates will increase through 2010 to end the year at 5.7%.  Freddie Mac predicts an even grimmer future, expecting rates to get to 6.0% in 2010.  ...

More positive signals from housing -- home values are still on the rise. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, after posting its first quarterly increase since 2007 this past September, the Home Price Index rose by another 0.6 percent in October. Prices are up in 4 of the last six months. But before we take the stats to the proverbial bank, it's important that we recognize the Home Price Index for its shortcomings. HPI only accounts for homes with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac HPI only accounts for re-sold homes -- newly-built homes are ...

There’s been some great information on Mortgages Unzipped the last couple of weeks on credit scores and how they can affect your mortgage rates. As Colin Robertson wrote last week, prospective buyers should definitely check their credit score long before applying for a mortgage. This definitely isn’t one of those six-second paperwork gloss-overs. Consumers need to take a long, hard look at that report, scouring each line for inaccuracies both big and small. Almost 80 percent of credit reports have either serious errors or other types of mistakes, according to a landmark survey ...

Mortgage markets made a 4-day losing streak last week on thin holiday volume and overall economic optimism. It was awful news for rate shoppers because mortgage rates were higher every day last week. The holiday-shortened week marked the third out of 4 during which rates worsened and last week's action happened to be especially harsh. Monday's action was the worst for rates since July, for example.  Tuesday's was only slightly less worse. Today, conforming, 30-year fixed mortgage rates have reached at a 15-week high -- well off the lows set in early-December. Normally, when ...

Attention consumers: In about a year, you’ll know if your credit score impacted your mortgage rate. I spoke about the importance of credit scoring with regard to mortgage rates earlier this week, and it appears the government takes it very seriously as well. The FTC and Federal Reserve want consumers to be informed if they’re receiving higher interest rates as a result of their credit history, per this post from The Truth About Mortgage: Beginning in 2011 (no, not 2010), consumers will be notified if they receive less favorable terms on their mortgages because of credit imperfections, ...

One day after November's Existing Home Sales report blew away estimates, the Census Bureau's related New Homes Sales report failed to impress. A "new home" is a home that is newly-constructed; not bought as a resale. In a lackluster showing, New Home Sales dropped 11 percent in November, falling to the lowest levels since April. Furthermore, the all-important "months of supply" climbed by a half-month to 7.9. The press pounced on the figures and if you only read the headlines, you'd think that housing had cratered.  Some of the angles were quite bold, even: Weak U.S. Home Sales ...