Delaware Mortgage Rates Weekly Update February 18, 2013

John Thomas February 18, 2013 Tags: Delaware Home Loans, Delaware Mortgage Rates, Delaware Real Estate, Delaware Refinance, John Thomas, mortgage loans, mortga\ges, primary residential mortgage

Delaware mortgage rate weekly mortgage market update for the week of February 18, 2013, by John Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage in Newark, Delaware. John is the Newark, DE 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 continued their slow trek higher last week as mortgage bonds sold off to end the week. The stock market continues to rally and set a new record high. Money is continuing to move out of bonds into the stock market which is causing home loan rates to move higher. The bond chart below shows we are still trending lower for mortgage bonds and setting lower lows on the chart. This means it is prudent to LOCK your Delaware mortgage rate for any short term transactions closing in the next 30 days. Long term you can float as the stock market should pull back from its long run up and this would move home loan rates lower.

The stock market is being driven higher by some good economic news on the economy. Last week we saw the Consumer Sentiment Report come out better than expected for February 2013 at 76.3% which is above expectations of 73.5. Empire Manufacturing Report was also better than expected by 10 points versus 0 expected. The Labor Department released weekly initial jobless claims last Thursday which came in 27,000 lower than expected and came in at 341,000. This is another sign that the economy is recovering and is helping investors move money into riskier investments like the stock market.

Last week, the National Association of Realtors reported that the national median existing single-family home price surged 10% since this time last year to $178,900.Â This year over year increase of 10% was the largest gain since the fourth quarter of 2005.

Delaware State Housing Authority announced last week it has ended its Loans for Heroes home loan program for Veterans. DSHA said 100% of funds have been allocated and the program helped 37 families purchase homes with VA loans with below-market interest rates. DSHA also informed lenders that interest rates on its home loan programs will be going up very soon in response to the rising interest rates on the bond market.

Last week we discussed FHA is increasing Mortgage Insurance on April 1, 2013, and will also be making it for the life of the loan on June 3, 2013. These changes are a result of FHA saying the MIP Fund is running low on money but HUD has the money in its General Fund which it moved out of MIP Fund. So doesn’t seem like FHA needs to raise MI, below links to a great video from the National Real Estate Post that explains everything in detail: