Delaware Mortgage Rates weekly rate update for the Week of January 6, 2014, by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. in Newark, Delaware. John Thomas is the Newark, Delaware Branch Manager and the author of the best selling book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware. Call 302-703-0727 to get a mortgage planning consultation or APPLY ONLINE for Delaware mortgage loan

Delaware Mortgage Rates traded in a tight range for the last week and ended the week about where they started as you can see from the mortgage bond chart below. We are going to recommend FLOATING your Delaware Mortgage Rate to start the week to see if bonds can improve but again be on guard if bonds break below the level of support they have been trading at all week, rates will move higher fast so will quickly switch to a locking stance.

How will 2014 look for Delaware mortgage interest rates?

Mortgage interest rates have been on the rise since May 2013 where they were about 3.25% till now about 4.75%. Mortgage Rates will continue to rise as we move into January 2014 for Two reasons;

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Delaware Mortgage Rates weekly mortgage market update for the Week of December 30, 2013, by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage in Newark, Delaware. John Thomas is the Newark, Delaware Mortgage Branch Manager and the author of the book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware. Call 302-703-0727 to get a mortgage planning consultation or APPLY ONLINE for Delaware mortgage loan

Delaware Mortgage Rates drifted higher last week and continued on the long term trend of higher mortgage rates moving toward the 5% range in 2014. Mortgage bonds have been selling off moving interest rates higher since the Federal Reserve announced that they would begin tapering the asset purchase program (QE3) in January 2014 but mortgage bonds were able to find a bottom last week. If you look at the mortgage bond chart below you can see that mortgage bonds have been able to find a level of support last week at about 102.49 and were able to bounce off this support on Friday with a nice green candle. The long term trend for mortgage bonds is for them to sell off and move lower but in the short term, we may see bonds move higher after Friday’s bounce off support. The long term trend is for mortgage interest rates to move higher into 2014 but short term we can recommend FLOATING your Delaware mortgage rate to start the week to see if mortgage bonds can follow through on Friday’s bounce higher.  However, if bonds break below the level of support in the chart below, we would quickly switch to a locking stance.

In Economic News, Stock Market set its 50th record high this year as the S&P Index closed at 1,842.02 on Thursday. The Stock Market has had a huge run this year because of a rebounding economy and housing market but also because the Federal Reserve is keeping the asset purchase program QE3 going.

Thursday saw the release of the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims which fell by 42,000 claims to 338,000 claims. This was the largest weekly drop in 13 months. The weekly claims have been jumping around each week and will continue till the holiday hiring and firing season is done.

In Housing News, New Director of FHFA Mel Watts said that he will delay the increase in mortgage fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that was to go into effect in March 2014. The increase in fees would have moved conventional mortgage rates higher if implemented. The Fee increases are the “G-Fee” that is currently charged on all conventional loans. The fee was to increase and is passed on to consumers through a higher interest rate.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its House Price Index for October 2013 and it was slightly better than expected at 8.2% which is up 0.5%.

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released a summary of the FHA 2013 Report which showed the Mortgage Insurance Fund continued to improve with net worth growing by $15 Billion over last year’s estimate, rising from negative $16.3 Billion to negative $1.3 Billion. Capital Reserve ratio rose from a negative 1.44 percent in 2012 to negative 0.11 percent in 2013.  Estimates will reach the mandatory 2 percent reserve in 2015.

New Homes Sales for November 2013 were reported down 2.1% at 464k but October’s numbers were revised higher to 474k which is the best number since July 2008, so this month’s number is still very strong. Supply of homes remained tight at 4.3 month supply. The Median Home Price was $270,900 which is up 10.6% year over year.

Call 302-703-0727 to schedule a mortgage consultation to get pre-approved for a mortgage to purchase a home or to refinance your existing mortgage to lower your rate and save thousands of dollars in interest. There are several special governments refinance programs to help underwater Delaware homeowners refinance. There is the FHA Streamline Refinance Program, the VA IRRRL Streamline Refinance Program, and there is the HARP 1.0 and HARP 2.0 refinance programs. Call us or e-mail us now to get more information or you can APPLY ONLINE.

The next Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 18, 2013, in Newark, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.delawarehomebuyerseminar.com/ The next Dover Delaware Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 11, 2014, in Dover, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.DelawareHomeBuyerSeminar.com

Then next Maryland First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 25, 2013, in Towson, Maryland. Register by calling 410-412-3319 or Register online at http://www.MarylandHomeBuyerSeminars.com

If you would like to apply for a Mortgage Loan, you can

APPLY ONLINE HERE Keep Reading...

Delaware Mortgage Rates weekly mortgage market update for the Week of December 23, 2013, by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage in Newark, Delaware. John Thomas is the Newark, Delaware Mortgage Branch Manager and the author of the book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware. Call 302-703-0727 to get a mortgage planning consultation or APPLY ONLINE for Delaware mortgage loan

Delaware Mortgage Rates spiked higher last week when the Federal Reserve Committee announced that it would begin tapering its asset purchase program. Mortgage rates moved higher as the mortgage bond sold off. If you look at the mortgage bond chart below you can see a Big Red Candle on Wednesday after the news was released. Mortgages bonded continued to move lower on Thursday but then were able to bounce higher to stabilize the bond. Mortgage rates surged higher to end the week about where they were at the end of September. We are looking for mortgage interest rates to move into the 5s for 2014 as the economy improves and the Feds start to taper their asset purchase program called QE3. We are recommending starting the week FLOATING your Delaware Mortgage Rate because bonds were able to rally back on Friday so we want to see if can build on this momentum.

The Federal Reserve released the meeting minutes on Wednesday which surprisingly announced a taper to the Asset purchase program starting in January 2014 to the tune of $10 Billion. Currently, the Feds are purchasing $85 Billion a month in U.S. Treasuries and mortgage bonds but January they are reducing the monthly purchase to $75 Billion a month. This news rocked the mortgage bond market and caused a big sell-off on Wednesday but bonds were able to find a bottom and rally off it on Friday. Long Term outlook for rates is for mortgage interest rates to rise as Feds continue to taper the asset purchase program called QE3 because 90% of mortgage-backed securities being currently bought are being bought by the Feds!

In Economic News, the Final Reading of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 3rd Quarter of 2013 was reported at 4.1% above expectations of 3.6% and was also the highest since the 4th Quarter GDP of 2011. The rise in GDP was from a couple of factors which include:

• Increase in Consumer Spending from 1.4% to 2%
• The buildup in Business Inventories
• Business Spending in Software

We will need to watch the GDP readings to see if continues this high because two of the factors will not keep contributing to GDP. Business Inventories once build up will be done and will no longer contribute to the GDP and Business spending on Software will no longer contribute to GDP once businesses have upgraded.

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims continue to spike higher as Thursday jobless claims were reported higher by 10k claims at 379,000 claims. This was well above expectations of 333k claims and is now the highest reading since March 2013. This doesn’t support a recovering job market so we will need to watch this trend as it could negatively impact the unemployment number and the economic recovery.

In Housing News, Housing Starts for November 2013 surged higher by 22.7% to 1.09 Million units above expectations for 950k units. This was the largest percent increase since January 1990 and the biggest rate in five years. Building Permits for November 2013 declined by 3.1% to 1.007 million units which were above the 950k estimated for permits. The market for New Construction is continuing to improve and builder confidence is still running high so 2014 looks to be a good year for home builders. In the resale market, Existing Home Sales for November 2013 fell 4.9% for the first time in 29 months to 4.90 Million units down from 4.96 million units in November 2012

CoreLogic reported that 791,000 more residential properties returned to positive equity in the 3rd Quarter of 2013 but there are still nearly 6.4 Million residential properties still under water with “negative” equity.  There were 48,000 foreclosures completed in October 2013 which is a 30% decline from October 2012.

In the week ahead we are looking at the following reports:

• Personal Income & Spending on Monday
• Personal Consumption Expenditure on Monday (Measure of Inflation)
• Consumer Sentiment on Monday
• New Home Sales on Tuesday
• Weekly Initial Jobless Claims on Thursday

Call 302-703-0727 to schedule a mortgage consultation to get pre-approved for a mortgage to purchase a home or to refinance your existing mortgage to lower your rate and save thousands of dollars in interest. There are several special governments refinance programs to help underwater Delaware homeowners refinance. There is the FHA Streamline Refinance Program, the VA IRRRL Streamline Refinance Program, and there is the HARP 1.0 and HARP 2.0 refinance programs. Call us or e-mail us now to get more information or you can APPLY ONLINE.

The next Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday January 18, 2013, in Newark, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.delawarehomebuyerseminar.com/ The next Dover Delaware Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 11, 2014, in Dover, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.DelawareHomeBuyerSeminar.com

Then next Maryland First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 25, 2013, in Towson, Maryland. Register by calling 410-412-3319 or Register online at http://www.MarylandHomeBuyerSeminars.com

If you would like to apply for a Mortgage Loan, you can

APPLY ONLINE HERE Keep Reading...

Delaware Mortgage Rates weekly mortgage market update for the Week of December 16, 2013, by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage in Newark, Delaware. John Thomas is the Newark, Delaware Mortgage Branch Manager and the author of the book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware. Call 302-703-0727 to get a free mortgage planning consultation or APPLY ONLINE for Delaware mortgage loan

Delaware mortgage rates moved higher last week from fears that the Federal Reserve may start tapering at their December meeting versus waiting till 2014. If you look at the mortgage bond chart below you can see that mortgage bonds have been on a roller coaster ride but the long term trend is still for mortgage bonds to move lower which will cause home loan interest rates to move higher in the long term. We did see a green candle on Friday which means mortgage bonds could be trying to rally in the short term so we are going to recommend cautiously FLOATING your Delaware mortgage rate to start the week.

The big picture for mortgage rates shows mortgage bonds up against a tough ceiling of resistance in the blue line on the mortgage bond chart below. The long term trend which is seen with the dotted line is for mortgage bonds to move lower especially with the stock market rallying and the fears of the Federal Reserve tapering the asset purchase program.  Short term we can cautiously float our rate but if the bond starts selling off and moving lower there is a long way for it to go to hit a floor of support which is the big red line horizontal on the chart. This floor is where rates will be in the 5% range and is where rates are predicted to move for 2014.

In Economic News, the U.S. Congress hammered out a deal on the U.S. Budget for the next two years which will avoid another government shut down in January 2014. The budget deal reduces the deficit by $23 Billion and it does not raise taxes. The budget sets government spending at $1.012 trillion for the current fiscal year through September. $23 Billion savings on $16 Trillion in National Debt doesn’t really do much. The budget plan includes higher fees for airline passengers and changes to government pensions and increased annual discretionary spending. It did not include another extension of jobless benefits.

Retail Sales for November 2013 came in better than expected at 0.7% above the 0.6% expected. This is not bond friendly news because as the economy improves, it gives the Federal Reserve more reasons to taper the asset purchase program and to increase the rate at which it tapers. We did some bond friendly news on Friday as the Producer Price Index came out very low at 0.1% which is a measure of inflation at the wholesale level.  Year over a year the PPI is only at 1.3% so inflation still remains very low.

We saw the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims came out last Thursday and it surged higher by 68k claims to 368,000 claims for the week. Last week claims had dropped to 300,000 but that was mostly due to the Thanksgiving Holidays.

In Housing News, FHA lowered the loan limits for 2014. The loan limits will be calculated based on the median home price per region using 115% of the median home price but the lowest maximum limit is $271,050. Delaware FHA Loan limits for 2014 will be $271,050 for Kent County, $379,500 for New Castle County, and $316,250 for Sussex County. You can read the full story at Delaware FHA Loan Limits for 2014

CoreLogic reported that Foreclosures for October 2013 were 48,000 which is down 30% from October 2012 which was 68,000. The foreclosure inventory declined by 28% this year and the rate of serious delinquency is at its lowest level since November 2008. This is good news but we still have a ways to go as there are still almost 900,000 properties across the nation still in foreclosure which is four times the normal.

The FHFA announced it will increase the “G-Fee” for all conventional loans that are delivered to either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The “G-Fee” is basically a hidden tax on conventional loans. Congress figured out they can fund things such as the health care bill through this hidden “tax” but telling the American people they didn’t raise taxes. The fee raises the cost of mortgages for people who getting conventional loans to pay for things totally unrelated to mortgages or the cost of mortgages. This increase in the “G-Fee” will mean mortgage rates are going up in March or April when they implement the increase.

Call 302-703-0727 to schedule a mortgage consultation to get pre-approved for a mortgage to purchase a home or to refinance your existing mortgage to lower your rate and save thousands of dollars in interest. There are several special governments refinance programs to help underwater Delaware homeowners refinance. There is the FHA Streamline Refinance Program, the VA IRRRL Streamline Refinance Program, and there is the HARP 1.0 and HARP 2.0 refinance programs. Call us or e-mail us now to get more information or you can APPLY ONLINE.

The next Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 18, 2013, in Newark, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.delawarehomebuyerseminar.com/
The next Dover Delaware Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 11, 2014, in Dover, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.DelawareHomeBuyerSeminar.com

Then next Maryland First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 25, 2013, in Towson, Maryland. Register by calling 410-412-3319 or Register online at

http://www.MarylandHomeBuyerSeminars.com Keep Reading...

Delaware Mortgage Rates weekly mortgage market update for the Week of December 2, 2013, by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage in Newark, Delaware. John Thomas is the Newark, Delaware Mortgage Branch Manager and the author of the book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware. Call 302-703-0727 to get a mortgage planning consultation or APPLY ONLINE for Delaware mortgage loan

Delaware Mortgage Rates moved slightly higher to end the week as mortgage bonds traded lower to end the week. If you look at the mortgage bond chart below you can see bonds traded slightly lower to end the week. Traders left for the Thanksgiving holiday so trading volume was light on Wednesday and Friday. We are recommending FLOATING your Delaware mortgage rate to start the week.

In Economic News, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims came lower by 10,000 claims at 316,000 claims. This was the lowest reading on initial jobless claims since September 28th but numbers are difficult to calculate as seasonal employment for the holidays can skew the number lower.

The Consumer Sentiment Index in late November 2013 rose more than expected to 75.1, above the final reading in October 2013 of 73.2. The rise was due in part to wealthier Americans’ outlook on the economy improved. Within the report, it showed that upper-end consumers are benefiting from rising stock prices and low interest while lower-income households are still concerned about job growth.

In Housing News, Pending Home Sales for October 2013 were reported down by 0.6% which was below expectations of a gain of 1.1%. Pending Home Sales measures the number of contracts signed in October to purchase existing homes. This was the 5th consecutive month of declines but the good news is the bulk of the decline is from the Western States.

Building Permits for September 2013 & October 2013 were both reported higher than expected. Permits for September were up 5.2% at 974,000 and Permits for October were up 6.2% at 1.034 Million. Building Permits measures how much new home construction there will be in the future so this is very encouraging for home builders. Building Permits are up 13.9% year over year which shows buyers are still in the market for buying a new home.

The Case-Schiller 20 City Home Price Index was up 0.7% for September 2013 from August 2013 and is up 13.3% year over year. This is the largest increase in 7.5 years for home prices. Schiller did state in an interview that he is not worried about a real estate bubble and that the rate of appreciation is slowing.

In Local News, New Castle County VHAP Program is out of funds for the remainder of 2013. A Borrower had to have their application at the county by November 27th to reserve funds for this year. The program should be refunded January 2014. The New Castle County DPS program still has funds available for down payment assistance.

Call 302-703-0727 to schedule a mortgage consultation to get pre-approved for a mortgage to purchase a home or to refinance your existing mortgage to lower your rate and save thousands of dollars in interest. There are several special governments refinance programs to help underwater Delaware homeowners refinance. There is the FHA Streamline Refinance Program, the VA IRRRL Streamline Refinance Program, and there is the HARP 1.0 and HARP 2.0 refinance programs. Call us or e-mail us now to get more information or you can APPLY ONLINE.

The next Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, December 14, 2013, in Newark, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.delawarehomebuyerseminar.com/

The next Dover Delaware Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 11, 2014, in Dover, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.DelawareHomeBuyerSeminar.com

Then next Maryland First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, December 7, 2013, in Towson, Maryland. Register by calling 410-412-3319 or Register online at http://www.MarylandHomeBuyerSeminars.com

If you would like to apply for a Mortgage Loan, you can

APPLY ONLINE HERE Keep Reading...

Delaware Mortgage Rates weekly mortgage market update for the Week of November 25, 2013, by John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage in Newark, Delaware. John Thomas is the Newark, Delaware Mortgage Branch Manager and the author of the book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware. Call 302-703-0727 to get a free mortgage planning consultation or APPLY ONLINE for Delaware mortgage loan

Delaware Mortgage Rates moved higher after the Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes renewed fears of tapering their asset purchases this year versus waiting until 2014. If you look at the bond page below you can see a red candle down on Tuesday when Mortgage Bond hit the 200 days moving average and was turned lower. Then on Wednesday big red candle down after the Federal Reserve Minutes was released and renewed fears of tapering caused sell-off in the bond market. Mortgage rates were able to stabilize to end the week so we are recommending FLOATING your Delaware Mortgage Rate to start the week to see if mortgage bonds can recover.

The Federal Open Market Committee released their meeting minutes for October 2013 meeting on Wednesday and it showed that Fed members did discuss tapering the asset purchase program called QE3 this year as a possibility. This lead to an uncertainty of when they may actually start tapering the $85 Billion a month they are spending on purchasing mortgage bonds and U.S. Treasuries which caused a sell-off in the bond market moving interest rates higher.

In Economic News, the U.S. Labor Department reported the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims on Thursday at 323,000 claims which are a drop of 21,000 claims from the previous week. This was the lowest drop in claims in nearly three months but Veterans Day Holiday may account for the drop so we will have to look at this week’s claims to see if there is a rise in claims.

Retail Sales Rose by an unexpected 0.4% for October 2013 and the increase was due to the drop in the energy prices so less money spent at the Gas Pump allows more money for clothing and electronics. The measure of inflation from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in very tame at 0.1% which was below expectations and was the result of dropping energy prices. The CPI measures inflation at the retail level.

The Stock Markets set record highs on Friday with the DOW Jones closing above 16,000 for the first time every and the S&P 500 closed above 1,800 for the first time ever. The stock markets are benefiting from the continued asset purchase program of the Feds QE3. As long as the Feds keep purchasing bonds and treasuries, the stock market will keep rallying but as soon as the tapering starts we will probably see a pullback in the markets.

In Housing News, October 2013 Existing Home Sales fell by 3.2 percent due to rising home prices and rising home loan interest rates. Expectations were for 5.2 Million Homes to be sold on an annualized basis but we only have 5.12 Million Homes sold. October marked the second straight month that Existing Home Sales have declined.

Call 302-703-0727 to schedule a mortgage consultation to get pre-approved for a mortgage to purchase a home or to refinance your existing mortgage to lower your rate and save thousands of dollars in interest. There are several special governments refinance programs to help underwater Delaware home owners refinance. There is the FHA Streamline Refinance Program, the VA IRRRL Streamline Refinance Program, and there is the HARP 1.0 and HARP 2.0 refinance programs. Call us or e-mail us now to get more information or you can APPLY ONLINE.

The next Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, December 14, 2013, in Newark, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.delawarehomebuyerseminar.com/
The next Dover Delaware Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 11, 2014, in Dover, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.DelawareHomeBuyerSeminar.com

Then next Maryland First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, December 7, 2013, in Towson, Maryland. Register by calling 410-412-3319 or Register online at http://www.MarylandHomeBuyerSeminars.com

If you would like to apply for a Mortgage Loan, you can

APPLY ONLINE HERE Keep Reading...