Mortgage Rates Spend Week Recovering from 2010 Highs

By: Victor Burek •

Mortgage rates rallied yesterday morning but lost positive progress after the Treasury auctioned $13 billion 30 year bonds. Following the release of auction results, mortgage-backed security prices were led lower by weakness in the benchmark Treasury note market. This forced a few lenders to reprice for the worse, but not all. For the most part, mortgage rates were unchanged on the day.

The economic calendar was essentially empty today. MBS prices opened lower but recovered by mid-day. Reprices for the better were reported but nothing widespread.

Reports from fellow mortgage professionals indicate lender rate sheets to be marginally better when compared to loan pricing yesterday.  The par 30 year conventional rate mortgage is however still i the 4.875% to 5.125% range for well qualified consumers.  To secure a par interest rate on a conventional mortgage you must have a FICO credit score of 740 or higher, a loan to value at 80% or less and pay all closing costs including one point loan origination/discount/broker fee.   If your FICO score is lower, you will either have to accept a higher interest rate or pay additional costs. 

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Mortgage rates spent this week slowly recovering from a healthy losing streak. If you were floating two weeks ago, when mortgage rates started this losing streak, and are still floating today, you should re-evaluate your position. How close is your current rate quote to what was being offered two weeks ago? Are your overall borrowing costs higher? How much higher? These are thoughts your originator should be able to discuss with you. If your costs are acceptable and you are within 30 days of closing, it makes sense to consider locking.

For potential and pending homeowners, we still believe there is room for the recent rates correction to continue. With that in mind, I find conditions favorable enough to warrant floating over the weekend.

Still floating one day at a time....

Have a great weekend, be back to you on Monday with a look at the week ahead.