We’ve opened up the day trending upward but as always that can change. Housing Starts for December were down 4.0% partly due to the cold weather we all experience in December. It certainly was too cold for me. But if you look at the Building Permits which forecasts the future of building, those were up and at levels we haven’t seen since October 208! So that is good news for the housing industry.
Producer Price Index was up just slightly at 0.2% over the expectation of remaining flat for the month. Bond market likes this as this is lower than the somewhat hot number of 0.5% in November.
Other news in the housing industry is the change in FHA guidelines. I will be doing some research on this today. From what I’ve been able to read so far today, Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium will go up, seller’s concessions will go down, and if your credit score is below 580, borrowers will have to put down 20%. But to be truthful, none of my investors are accepting loan with credit scores that low. This will all be put into practice this Spring. But again, let me do more research for you and I’ll get back to you.
For now, I recommend that you float your mortgage interest rate if you aren’t closing soon. Otherwise, lock to take advantage of the better rates we’ve been having lately.
You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am.
And as always, I will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.
Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.
To an inspiring week,
Betsy Moore
206-331-2749
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