Mortgage Interest Rate Analysis
By Martin Lukac RateEmpire.com
In the very beginning of the month of August the mortgage interest rates remained quite stable. Except a few mortgage program interest rates most of then remained unchanged to what it was in the last week of July. Interest rates of mortgage programs like 10-Year Treasury and 30-Year Treasury were down by 0.06% and 0.04% respectively. And the interest rate of programs like USD LIBOR 6-month and USD LIBOR 1 Year were up by very nominal 0.015% and 0.022%. Other than these, the interest rates of 30 year fixed average, 15 year fixed average, 5/1 ARM average, 3/1 ARM average and some other programs remained unchanged.
On the third day of the month most of the mortgage interest rates fell down by units in decimal due to change in market conditions. But the interest of short-term mortgage loans like USD LIBOR 6-month and 1-year were raised up to 5.318% and 5.230%.
During the first 15 days of the month the mortgage interest rate fluctuated a lot. Though the average fluctuation rate was very low but it kept on fluctuating up and down. On most of the occasions the short-term loan interests got affected and kept changing everyday.
To give a brief idea of fluctuation in rates in the first half of the month of August, the table below shows mortgage interest rates of different mortgage programs on the 1st day of August and the 15th day of August. It also shows comparative rise or fall in rise in rates.
Mortgage Programs |
Rates of August 1, 2007 |
Rates of August 15, 2007 |
Rise/Fall |
|
30 Year Fixed Average |
6.69% |
6.59% |
- 0.10 |
|
15 Year Fixed Average |
6.37% |
6.25% |
- 0.12 |
|
5/1 ARM Average |
6.30% |
6.33% |
+ 0.03 |
|
3/1 ARM Average |
5.69% |
5.65% |
- 0.04 |
|
30-Year Treasury |
4.92% |
4.99% |
+ 0.07 |
|
10-Year Treasury |
4.76% |
4.71% |
- 0.05 |
|
USD LIBOR 1-Year |
5.245% |
5.240% |
- 0.005 |
|
USD LIBOR 6-Month |
5.327% |
5.396% |
+ 0.069 |
The table suggests that the interest rate of only 3 mortgage programs, i.e. 5/1 ARM Average, 30-Year Treasury and USD LIBOR 6-Month have risen during the month. Other than these, interests of all the other mortgage programs have fallen.
Analysts believe that the decline in the mortgage industry is due to the higher unemployment in the recent times. Some believe that the recent drastic drop in mortgage market is due to the tighter lending standards and cooling home prices. This fall in the mortgage interest rate has in fact started to affect the sub-prime lending too.
Due to the fall in mortgage interest rates the U.S. mortgage applications rose for the second straight week. Experts believe that the recent disturbance in the mortgage market is the reason behind the rising applications. The housing sector and the homebuilders market are down and so are the financial companies including mortgage companies. Last week, the fall in the mortgage market spread to the financial markets with a rapid speed and provoked the fear that tighter credit will have a bigger impact on consumers, markets and the economy.
It has been forecasted that the interest rates for the 80% of homeowners and buyers that qualify for A-paper mortgages will probably remain stable or slightly increase in the near future. Those who are with sub-prime credit or don’t have proper documents to prove income, may face difficulty in getting the loans or they might be charged with higher interest rates or huge down payment.
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