Jumbo Rates Still Surging / ARM's Too

Posted by urbandigs

Tue Sep 4th, 2007 12:33 PM

A: Weekly Mortgage Report from Wells Fargo (hat tip Michael McGivney) shows falling 30YR fixed rates but rising ARM rates across the board. Any buyers out there care to report what they are seeing after talking to their mortgage lenders? Lets see how consistent this report is with other brokers doing lending business in Manhattan!

First, some charts via the Wells Fargo report. Here are weekly rates check, unfortunately it doesn't show jumbo rates, I'll get to that shortly.

weekly-mortgage-rates.jpg

Here is a chart showing Home Sales data as released by NAR.

home-sales-data-nar.jpg

Now, onto the Jumbo rates that are more in tune with reality here in the world of Manhattan real estate. Michael McGivney is reporting to me another surge in Jumbo Loan rates for 30YR fixed loan products reflecting the increasing risk seen by lenders towards the mortgage markets.

The exact quote from Michael is...

"Jumbo rates are awful; 30 yr at 7.375% - 7.5% depending on LTV and credit. It is 0.125% higher than last week"
For all you that don't know, LTV is Loan-To-Value ratio. This is important because depending on how much you can put down, your rate quote can be lower or higher. Less money down means MORE risk for the lender and therefore a higher rate. More money down means LESS risk for the lender as the borrower is willing to take more equity in the transaction; this will give the borrower a better rate.

In addition, short term ARM product rates are rising because quite simply the risk is increasing for this type of loan product and fewer investors are willing to buy these riskier loan products on the secondary mortgage markets. That means lenders may be stuck holding the bag and that is something some don't want to do. According to the report:
Treasury yields dropped on AUG 30th as investors fled asset backed commercial paper in favor of the safety of government debt. The credit market situation is becoming quite unpredictable, with reports coming out almost every day detailing further ills for companies and the market as a whole. The housing market remains in a deep slump while consumer confidence is waning. We expect these factors to keep downward pressure on long-term mortgage rates in the near term. However, shortert-term ARM rates rose sharply this week and will carry upside risk as liquidity has dried up for these riskier mortgage instruments.


Great stuff from the inside trenches of the lending world here in Manhattan. WHAT ARE YOU BUYERS SEEING OUT THERE WITH RATE QUOTES? IS THIS REPORT ACCURATE OR OFF?


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