Market Updates

Austin Mortgage Update – Week Ending 5/1/2009

May 4, 2009 by Kevin Wilhelm · Leave a Comment

What Did Interest Rates Do This Week?
** based on Freddie Mac weekly average survey **

30-yr Fixed – Slightly Lower
This Week: 4.78% (record lows!)
Last Week: 4.80%
1yr Ago: 6.06%

15-yr Fixed – Unchanged
This Week: 4.48%
Last Week: 4.48%
1yr Ago: 5.59%

Highlight of Last Week’s Major Economic Reports

The economy continues to show signs of stability. A recovery isn’t here yet, but it’s at least starting to look like it’s within reach.

In a recent USA Today article, “The Federal Reserve … confirmed that the nerve-wracking economic free fall of recent months slowed in the past month. But the economy continues to shrink and will remain “weak” for some time, the nation’s central bank said. The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at near zero and reiterated plans to buy up to $1.75 trillion in government securities in a bid to ease tight credit markets. Its decision to stand pat followed an extended blizzard of crisis-fighting steps.”

Furthermore, according to Freddie Mac, “The housing market may be edging towards a bottom. Existing home sales stayed near its four-month average in March while new home sales were stronger than the market consensus. More importantly, the inventory of unsold new homes fell to the lowest number since January 2002. And, the S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-city composite index did not show a record year-over-year decline in February for the first time since December 2006. Finally, housing affordability hit record highs in the first quarter of this year, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors, which date back to January 1971.”

With growing talk of economic stabilization, consumer confidence seems to be picking up a bit in recent times. This, despite the growing unemployment rate and the declining incomes, which has caused the nation’s savings rate to rise drastically over the past few months.

What to Look for This Week

Fed Chairman will be providing his latest sentiments on economic conditions, and the latest reading on the labor markets will be released.

Short-Term Rate Outlook

Stable to Potentially Higher

Stay Informed: What’s in the News

“Finding Bottom: Where the Market Will Turn Around” from Ris Media

The end is near. When exactly, is hard to predict. It is also hard to predict what that end will look like. However, it is hard to escape the sense that some things will change forever. But what? Will law and order, if you can call this that, descend into chaos? Will nations withdraw from the global economy and seek self-sufficiency and protectionism? Will complex monetary systems that allow insider manipulation be replaced by barter? Will Brad and Angelina ever tie the knot? These are the great questions of our time.

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