Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Loan Rates Fall again


Loan rates for residential mortgages are down again as the economy continues to put pressure on the downward trend for fixed loan rates. The questions I am hearing from my clients is should I refinance or should we wait to buy. The answer I am telling people is rates should remain flat and continue on the downward trend pending of course good economic news (something we haven't seen in a while nor will in my opinion). If however, the stock market continues to get slammed then perhaps investors will be shifting their money to bonds and we can see a weakening of these historically low interest rates.

Waiting to refinance is probably a safer bet, but waiting to purchase in order to capture an 1/8-1/4 points on a loan is possible if you're not in any hurry but look at where the rates are right now! Really really low. If you're out looking at properties and see a glut of properties fitting your wish list then waiting is a consideration, however, if the area you are looking does not have a large selection I would say continue the search and when the property comes along that looks good, put in an offer and secure those low rates now. I don't think we will see the rates going below 5.0% unless the recession which is looming becomes a certainty.

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued lower Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield held steady at 3.59 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped to 5.47 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate slipped to 4.95 percent. The 1-year adjustable rate sank to 5.1 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield was down at 4.31 percent

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