MLS Real Estate & Listings Blog

Mortgage rates rose slightly this week, the lowest-fee 30-year from just below 6 percent to a hair above. Spreads still gape versus Treasurys, at 2.5 percent above the 10-year defying all of the Fed’s latest efforts. Five-year ARMs, both conforming and jumbo, are better in availability and rate, but both are scarcer and higher than in January.

The economy itself is in a curious place. This morning’s report of a half-percent gain in February personal income was head-scratching good news, not squaring with consumer confidence measures at 16-year lows, some components at 41-year all-time lows.  more…

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A report from The Conference Board this week suggests that improvement in the U.S. job market is unlikely before the third or fourth quarter of this year.

The organization’s Help-Wanted Advertising Index, a key economic indicator measuring the volume of job ads in major U.S. newspapers, dipped one point in February to 21, and is down nine points from the same time last year.

The Conference Board reported that just 31 percent of labor markets surveyed last month reported rising want-ad volume, down from 43 percent in January.  more…

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Consumer confidence took another hit in March, falling to a five-year low, as more Americans expect business conditions and the job market to worsen in the coming months, The Conference Board reported today.

The Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 64.5 this month from a reading of 76.4 in February, with the Expectations Index component plummeting to its lowest level since December 1973.  more…

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Some progress this week by the authorities has helped mortgage rates fall to the 5.75 percent area for the first time since January. However, the improvement is limited to vanilla "agency" loans, the jumbo and even agency ARM markets still broken. The credit crunch is still alive, growing tighter, and the financial system is unstable.  more…

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Rising jobless claims and slumping home construction soured the economic outlook in February, as The Conference Board reported today that its U.S. leading index fell for the fifth straight month.  more…

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Fear of imminent economic recession may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, according to the latest Anderson Forecast report by University of California, Los Angeles forecasters.

While the report by Edward Leamer, director for the forecast, clings to earlier predictions that the U.S. economy will avoid a recession in the short term, it also details the dangers that are stressing consumers and challenging the economy.  more…

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Mortgage rates fell sharply this week on softer economic news, Freddie Mac reported today.

The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped 21 basis points from a week ago, dipping from 6.24 percent to 6.03 percent, and the average 15-year fixed mortgage tumbled from 5.72 percent to 5.47 percent.

Points, or fees that lenders charge for loan processing expressed as a percent of the loan, averaged 0.5 on the 30- and 15-year loans.  more…

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