Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Record Low Mortgage Rates Boost Mortgage Apps; Real Estate Lending Hits Record High in Feb.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 25, 2009)The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 20, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 1159.4, an increase of 32.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 876.9 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 31.4% compared with the previous week and 18% compared with the same week one year earlier.

“Mortgage rates fell sharply to low levels not seen in six decades following the Federal Reserve’s announcement on the Treasury bond and mortgage-backed securities purchase programs. The drop offered a sizable refinance incentive for most homeowners sparking a pickup in refinance activity,” said Orawin Velz, Associate Vice President of Economic Forecasting.

The Refinance Index increased 41.5% to 6363.2 from 4497.6 the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 4.2% to 267.8 from 257.1 one week earlier. The Conventional Purchase Index increased 3.9% while the Government Purchase Index (largely FHA) increased 4.6%. The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 13.9%. The four week moving average is up 1.7% for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 18.7% for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 78.5% of total applications from 72.9% the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.63% from 4.89%, with points decreasing to 1.13 from 1.23 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The contract rate is the lowest in the history of the survey, which began in 1990.

MP: The chart above shows Real Estate Loans at All Commercial Banks (data here) from 2002 through February 2009, which reached an all-time record high of $3.824 trillion in February. Apparently, real estate lending is "alive and well," despite reports to the contrary.

11 Comments:

At 3/25/2009 10:20 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Oh goody. I'm sure the next time that bubble bursts will be much much better.

 
At 3/25/2009 1:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can we get this guy to address Obama and the Democrats?

 
At 3/25/2009 4:23 PM, Blogger lineup32 said...

25% of Bay Area RE sales last month were FHA which does not count refi activity. Sooner or later this will be similar to South Florida which the majority activity is funded by little or no down FHA loans. Not exactly the kind of activity that will generate investor desire to fund future mortgage lending.

 
At 3/25/2009 8:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Come on Perry where is the lastest dry shipping chart?

 
At 3/25/2009 8:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@t jefferson

Don't speak to the DR like that, he will censor all critical comments from the site. I think your comment and mine have a shelf life of about another hour or two.

 
At 3/25/2009 9:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

t jefferson and anon: What is to censor? You two clowns couldnt argue your way out of a paper bag.

 
At 3/26/2009 3:23 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"t jefferson and anon: What is to censor? You two clowns couldnt argue your way out of a paper bag"...

Yep! Nothing like a couple clueless whiners contributing nuggets of nuttiness to the conversation...

In Missouri according to Yahoo Real Estate the Missouri Mortgage Rate Trends have fallen from a high near 7% to just below 5% for 15 year, 30 year, and forty year home loans...

 
At 3/26/2009 7:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

tj,

When total real estate sales volume in CA is ahead of the same month last year, that suggests we've seen bottom and are on the way up.

Therefore, the Baltic Dry Goods index can be relieved of its time in the spotlight. Though I was quite amused last weekend, coming back from a trip from Salt Lake City to Denver, to see at least 3 westbound trains full of empty stacked containers crossing the Wyoming desert. Apparently, the Port of Oakland has run out of containers to send back to Asia.

 
At 3/26/2009 11:30 AM, Blogger holymoly said...

There is the begining of a conversation on how to approach the economic difficulties we now face. Take a look at http://bettertomorrow-holymoly.blogspot.com

Best regards,

Jerry Baldy

 
At 3/26/2009 3:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've had so many comments censored by the dr that I'm shocked he let these stand. I guess he's trying to give the impression he would not participate in such behavior.

 
At 4/17/2009 10:18 AM, Blogger holymoly said...

See http://bettertomorrow-holymoly.com.
It is right up your alley.

Best Regards

 

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