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30-year mortgage rate rises to highest level since 2014

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    A three-bedroom home at 85-124 Plantation Road in Waianae was listed for sale at $238,000 in 2015. Long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed again this week, hitting the highest levels since 2014.

WASHINGTON >> Long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed again this week, hitting the highest levels since 2014.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said today that the rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans jumped to an average 4.30 percent from 4.16 percent last week and the highest since April 2014. The average for a 15-year mortgage rose to 3.52 percent from 3.37 percent last week and highest since January 2014.

Rates on adjustable five-year mortgages shot up this week to 3.32 percent from 3.19 percent last week and highest since mid-2011.

Rates have surged since the Nov. 8 election of Donald Trump. Investors have bid rates higher because they believe the president-elect’s plans for tax cuts and higher infrastructure spending will drive up economic growth and inflation.

And last week, the Federal Reserve, citing improvement in the U.S. economy, raised short-term U.S. interest rates for only the second time in a decade. “The mortgage industry digested the Fed’s decision, and this week’s survey reflects that response,” said Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

More people are at risk of being priced out of the housing market because rates are rising at a time when there is a shortage of properties for sale, driving bids higher. The National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that fewer than 1.9 million homes were for sale in November, down 9 percent from a year ago. The median price of an existing home is up nearly 7 percent from a year ago, at $234,900.

The Realtors predict that higher rates and declining affordability in many parts of the country likely will lead to only a small gain in sales of existing homes next year — a 2 percent increase to about 5.52 million.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week.

The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage was unchanged this week at 0.5 point. The fee on 15-year loans also remained at 0.5 point.

The fee on adjustable five-year loans stayed at 0.4 point.

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      • Well, if she/he/it (trying to be gender neutral, not sure what allie really is) got lured into the Banana Republic school of Libtard arts and majored in Chicano Studies/Feminism/Gangsta-Rap/Libtard Politics, she/he/it basically achieved the equivalence of the 13th grade. Don’t expect a 13th grader to know much about how the stock market or the economy really works.

        • She / he / it / other posted at 11:52AM, it could be happy hour at the allie household……It is Thursday…….

  • It is really, really funny how people think that all of the billionaires that will be occupying the Executive Branch go to sleep praying that everybody else gets rich too…

    • Well, things could not have gotten any worse under the Democrats. The 2008 Financial Crisis is the second worst thing to hit our nation since the 911 attacks. Did anyone go to prison for that? Nope.

        • Bill Clinton (D) repealed the Glass–Steagall Act in 1999 causing the housing bubble to begin far before Bush took office in 2001! Guess which states got impacted, predominantly all the Democrat states that classify themselves as sanctuary states pandering to illegal immigrants. All other states were practically untouched.

        • Commentor, do you and Koae understand what the 2008 financial crisis was about? It all started with the housing bubble bursting. Guess why that happened and what political party’s policy it was that caused the bubble. Wrong. Not Bush. It was the democrats and their liberal thinking that everyone should own a house whether they could afford it or not. When I say everyone, it even had the undertones of race in it. Not enough minorities own homes they said. Never mind that they can’t pay for their loans. Let’s let people buy without money down and with volatile adjustable rate mortgages. And so on and so on. Look up whose policies started this whole thing.

        • Funny, looking at the meltdown of the housing bubble chart, looks like ONLY DEMOCRAT sanctuary states had up to 80%+ housing valuation resets. So looking at the analysis one could say only S_T_U_P_I_D Democrat run states tried to approve every illegal immigrant Tom, D!i@k and Harry into a house causing massive housing surges and busts. Republican states seemed to be almost untouched! Go Goolge the state charts yourself if you don’t believe me.

          Here’s some more substantiating proof that states that pandered to illegals were the ones impacted, again Republican states were practically untouched!

          Source:
          Fannie and Freddie eventually announced low-income and minority loan commitments totaling $5 trillion. Critics argue that, to meet these commitments, Fannie and Freddie promoted a loosening of lending standards – industry-wide.

      • President Obama didn’t take office until 2009. Both 9/11 and the 2008 recession were under a Republican president. I would say we are much better off today.

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