Fed stopped buying MBS; What happens to Mortgage Rates now?

On April 5, 2010, in Mortgage Rates, by Shashank Shekhar

Mortgage rates took a major beating last week after Fed officially stopped buying mortgage backed securities. Fannie Mae 30 year (4.5%) mortgage bond opened the week at 100.44, and closed at 99.47, a drop of whopping 97 bps (see chart below). The mortgage rates for most of the conventional loan programs had jumped up by .25%. These are ominous signs.

mbs_last_week_march1

If last week was any indication this is not going to be a slow rise in interest rates as a lot of experts had predicted.

mortgage_rates_forecast1

From what we have seen so far we are definitely looking at mid -high 5s by the end of the year, if not higher. For the real estate market that is still fragile, more than .5% increase in rates could come as a big blow.

If you were looking to buy a house and had a Pre-approval done, it may be a good idea to get it reviewed again by your lender. An already .25% increase in rate means that  you may not qualify for the same amount of mortgage that you did 1 week back. And if you are looking to refinance, you opportunity to get a low rate may be limited.

If you would like to be updated on how the mortgage bond market and hence the mortgage rate market is moving, follow me on twitter or complete our live rate quote form.
Tagged with:
 

Comments are closed.