Posts with tag interest rates

With mortgage interest rates traveling for months between around 4.2% to around 4.45%, mid-December suddenly brought new spikes with rates spiking as high as 5.19%, a six-month high. The sudden yo-yo has left many consumers (and even experts) scratching their heads: Are mortgage interest rates really going up?... Continue Reading »

Interest rates can't stay low forever -- but mortgage watchers now expect rates under 5 percent for the next year, thanks in part to "quantitative easing," the latest scheme from the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was just 4.23 percent with a 0.8 percent... Continue Reading »

Successfully obtaining a mortgage requires meeting certain numbers. There's the amount of the down payment that you must have in your bank account. The amount of annual earnings you must show to prove you can manage the mortgage. And then there is your credit score. Right now, that credit score needs to be in the mid... Continue Reading »

Trying to determine the best time to jump into the housing market is always a bit of a gamble. But in this market, with the news see-sawing between stalled housing prices and falling interest rates, it's even harder to gauge whether today is the right day to buy a house. "There are all kinds of ways to look at it," says... Continue Reading »

Only two regions of the country showed any sign of a real estate recovery in July and August -- Cleveland and St. Louis. Otherwise, activity in residential real estate markets declined further, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released Sept. 8. In most areas of the country, inventories of available homes rose,... Continue Reading »