MLS Real Estate & Listings Blog

In a reversal of past policy, federal regulators say they won’t lower the $417,000 conforming loan limit to keep it in line with falling home prices.

Adopting a stance taken by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing downturn of the early 1990s, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has ruled that the conforming loan limit will move in only one direction: up.  more…

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Long-term mortgage rates this week were mixed, with the 30-year fixed rate falling and the 15-year rate rising, Freddie Mac reported today.

The average rate on 30-year fixed loans dipped from 5.87 percent to 5.85 percent, while the 15-year average rose from 5.27 percent to 5.34 percent. By contrast, a year ago the 30-year averaged 6.16 percent and the 15-year averaged 5.86 percent.  more…

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More than 8,000 members of the Federal Home Loan Bank System will be allowed to double their purchases of mortgage-backed securities backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, providing more than $100 billion in additional liquidity over the next two years, regulators said today.  more…

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Long-term mortgage rates tumbled this week after the Fed cut a key short-term interest rate and on news that inflation in February was weaker than expected, Freddie Mac reported today.

The average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 5.87 percent from last week’s 6.13 percent, and the average 15-year fixed rate plunged to 5.27 percent from 5.6 percent.

To qualify for these rates, borrowers must pay points, or fees that lenders charge for loan processing expressed as a percent of the loan, which this week averaged 0.5 on the 30- and 15-year loans.  more…

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Federal regulators say they’re giving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac additional leeway to buy up to $200 billion in mortgages and mortgage-backed securities by relaxing stringent capital requirements put in place in 2004 in the wake of management and accounting scandals.  more…

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Mortgage rates were up this week, Freddie Mac reported today in its latest survey, but were still lower than they were a year ago.

The average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbed to 6.13 percent from last week’s 6.03 percent, while the average 15-year fixed mortgage jumped from 5.47 percent to 5.6 percent. A year ago, rates on the 30- and 15-year loans averaged 6.14 percent and 5.88 percent, respectively.  more…

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Mortgage financer Freddie Mac briefly fell short of its minimum capital requirements last fall, but quickly came back into compliance by issuing $6 billion in preferred stock in December, federal regulators said today.

Freddie Mac and its sister company, Fannie Mae, managed to build capital surpluses well above the stricter requirements put in place following accounting and management scandals that forced both companies to restate several years of earnings.  more…

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