Mortgage News

I read more and more stories around the web about people who were duped by bad mortgages, usually in the fine print. You need to be very careful when securing a loan, particularly when dealing small lending outfits.

Faced with a weak dollar and rising inflation, the Federal Reserve seems done with its aggressive rate-cutting campaign. Here's how this shift in monetary policy may affect mortgage rates this year:

How have fixed mortgage rates been moving recently? They've climbed. The average 30-year, fixed-rate conforming mortgage increased from 5.91 percent for the week ending March 21 to 6.11 percent for the week ending April 25, according to HSH Associates, but it's still on the low side by historic standards.

regarding interest rates, where do you think they are heading and why?

Long term mortgage rates are not dropping with rate cuts from the Fed. Mortgage rates are tied to the bond market. When the stock market is going down, bonds go up (and so do mortgage rates). The rate cuts only affect short term loans at best right now. Their hope is the rate cuts will rally the stock market, sending bond rates down, thus bringing down long term mortgage rates. Well with stagflation a concern, rates cuts might be counterintuitive, just delaying the hangover we have are going to have to face sooner or later, maybe compounding it.

Are interest rate going up or down nationally I couldnot find interest rate statisics anywhere

What kind of maket r we in nationally top and bottom