Thinking of buying a Columbia SC property? Mortgage rates are still near all-time lows, but are being pulled in different directions right now. Borrowers who want to grab these unbelievable rates should act now before the tug-o-war ends.
The Federal Reserve has been doing whatever it can to hold rates down, including printing billions of dollars per month to buy mortgage bonds. But higher mortgage fees, imposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will push rates up later this fall.
Starting Nov. 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will raise the guarantee fees they charge loan originators. On average, this increase translates into about a quarter of 1 percentage point in interest. It’s almost like the higher fees will be canceled out by the Fed’s open-ended buying program, or QE3.
Rates will likely stay near the lows until the election, he says. What happens next is anyone’s guess.
What if after the election, they say, “We’re stopping (the bond-buying program) tomorrow…” Borrowers who are on the fence should act soon. There is no reason to hold off on buying a Columbia SC property or refinancing at these levels.
Changes Coming for Columbia SC Property Short Sales
A series of new short-sale guidelines that go into effect Nov. 1 are supposed to make the process of short selling easier and speedier. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow servicers to streamline the short-sale process for borrowers who are in financial hardship and homeowners who have to sell their homes because of a divorce, disability or job transfer. The expedited process will open the door to more short sales as an alternative to foreclosures.
Columbia SC mortgage rates increasing, along with increased home prices and diminishing inventory, are setting the stage for some procrastinating home buyers to soon realize they may have missed the bottom of the housing market, and the best time ever to buy a home.
What Has Columbia SC Mortgage Rates (As Well As Rates Nationwide) Climbing Again?
Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist with Freddie Mac, said in a recent statement that “the latest economic indicators point toward low inflation but gradually stronger economic activity which placed further upward pressure on long-term Treasury yields and, in turn, fixed mortgage rates.”
In a separate statement, Bankrate.com attributed the increases to a quieter “European front,” as member states there continue to funnel funds into debt-straddled countries.
Nervous investors have unwound some of the safe-haven trades that helped bring bond yields and mortgage rates lower,” the finance website said. “Whether the upward trend can be sustained depends on what happens on both sides of the Atlantic, with the European debt crisis and the path of the U.S. economy.”
What do you think about today’s mortgage rates? Will they continue their upward trend, allowing all-time home affordability to recede? It may well be a good thing, as the National Association of Home Builders pointed out recently by saying that declining affordability could mean that the housing market finally bottomed out.
Will higher Columbia SC mortgage rates cause you to speed up your thought process about buying a home, or will higher rates not really affect what you do? We’d love to hear your comments and thoughts on the upward trend in mortgage rates.