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, you can call John Thomas at 302-703-0727.

John R. Thomas – NMLS 38783

Certified Mortgage Planner – Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc.

302-703-0727 DE Office / 610-906-3109 PA Office / 410-412-3319 MD Office

248 E Chestnut Hill Rd, Newark, DE 19713