Mortgage Rates Drop to 5-Month Low

Top economist urges immediate rate cuts to avoid catstrophe

(NEWSER) - Mortgage woes could spark a serious recession, a prominent economist said yesterday. National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said that interest rates must be slashed heavily and quickly, or declining prices and weakening home equity withdrawal could hobble the economy, Reuters reports. More»

Bank accused of mortgage abuses

(NEWSER) - Wells Fargo has agreed to cough up $85 million to settle allegations that it steered borrowers with good credit towards expensive subprime mortgages and falsified information on borrowers' income on loan documents. The Federal Reserve says the fine, the first levied in relation to the predatory big-bank practices blamed for the housing bubble, is the largest that it has ever issued under its consumer-protection authority, CNN reports. More»

Demand for refinancing shrivels as 30-year rates hit 5.75%

(NEWSER) - The steady rise in interest rates over recent weeks is threatening to trample the green shoots of recovery in the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rates on 30-year mortgages hit 5.79% yesterday, more than a point above the 4.75% "trigger" level analysts say spurred the wave of refinancing central to the White House's stimulus plans. More»

(NEWSER) - The extraordinary measures the Fed has taken to reduce long-term mortgage rates may have hit their limits. Lenders are now quoting an average rate of 4.75% on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, and that’s probably as cheap as it’s going to get, says James Hagerty of the Wall Street Journal. With homeowners banging down the doors to refinance at those already historically low rates, banks would rather expand margins rather than deepen discounts. More»

Rate for 30-year mortgage again below 5%

(NEWSER) - Interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages decreased this week, with the rate for a 30-year mortgage falling 0.05% to an average 4.98%, near January’s record low of 4.96%, MarketWatch reports. Thirty- and 15-year mortgage rates are down nearly a full percentage point from a year ago. The fall in rates comes a day after the Fed announced it would buy Treasuries to depress lending costs. More»