Purchase | Refi     512-710-1400

GET STARTED

APPLY NOW (CLICK HERE)

PREQUAL LETTER

LETTER REQUESTS (CLICK HERE)

Existing Home Sales

The tactical bias for Austin mortgage rates and pricing is to remain neutral

The tactical bias for Austin mortgage rates and pricing is to remain neutral, trading a range on the 10 year note between 3.75% and 3.82%. Stocks want clarity on the Goldman/SEC issue which will lead bonds to react accordingly. Our work on the 10 year note chart is providing neutral to bullish trend signals and overbought conditions at the same time. Classic example of a mixed bag.

Austin Mortgage Market Update – For the week of March 1, 2010

New home sales fell 11.2% in January to a record low level. Existing home sales weren't very pretty either, down 7.2%, though they're UP 11.5% over a year ago. Let's remember that last Fall we all thought the tax credit was going away at the end of November. Many sales got pushed into October and November, causing sales drops the next two months. But the median new home price is down just 2.4% year over year and the average price is now UP 3.7%. For an existing home, the median price is unchanged from a year ago and the average price is UP 2.6%. More evidence home prices are stabilizing, with some analysts expecting modest gains for the year. Supporting this, the Case-Shiller home price index was UP 0.3% in December, its seventh straight monthly rise.

Austin Mortgage Market Update – For the week of February 15, 2010

The National Association of Realtors last Thursday reported existing home sales UP 27.2% for the last three months of 2009 versus a year earlier. This amounted to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6 million homes. -- a 13.9% increase over the third quarter's annual rate of 5.29 million homes. Clearly, buyers are taking advantage of the low mortgage interest rates and the tax credit that was extended and expanded by Congress.

If the Fed steps in too quickly to raise rates, we could see a repeat of what happened in 1937 when the Roosevelt administration prematurely bumps rates

What needs to happen to solidify a recovery is an expansion or long term investment, consumer spending, and lowering the unemployment rate. If not, we could see another economic dip. If the Fed steps in too quickly to raise rates, given my last statement, we could see a repeat of what happened in 1937 when the Roosevelt administration prematurely bumps rates.