Mortgages

Mortgage Rates Down to All-Time Record Lows

Freddie Mac released last Thursday its “Primary Mortgage Market Survey” showing that fixed mortgage rates hit new all-time record lows — signaling that homebuying affordability is high. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged at 3.84 %, down from the prior all-time record low of 3.87% recorded on February 9, 2012. The 15-year fixed mortgage rate …

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U.S. Homeownership Rate Plunges to Lowest Level Since 1997

The Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau released last Monday the latest U.S. homeownership data. According to the Census Bureau, homeownership rate plunged to the lowest level in 15 years in the 1st quarter of this year. The homeownership rate fell 65.4% from 66% in the 4th quarter of last year. This is the lowest level …

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More Americans are Renting Single Family Homes than Apartments, Recent Study Shows

A recent report from Corelogic, debunks the notion that more Americans rent apartments than single family homes. Sam Khater of Corelogic reports that the single family rental market represents 52% of the total residential rental market. Khater said that “the single-family rental market is a large, deep $3 trillion market that accounts for 21 million …

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FHFA Issues New Guidelines to Speed Up Short Sales

Last Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued new guidelines that would speed up the short sale process. The new short sale guidelines were directed to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two mortgage servicers that FHFA regulates. Under the new FHFA guidelines, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required to do the following: • Review …

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$26 Billion Settlement To Speed Up & Increase Foreclosure Activities, Experts Say

Experts say that the recently approved $26 billion foreclosure settlement will pave the way to the eventual increase in new foreclosure activities. Even as the number of U.S. foreclosure filings in the 1st quarter of 2012 has been the lowest since the 4th quarter of 2007, this does not mean that foreclosures are easing up, …

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