Friday, November 2, 2007

Interest Rates Fall Sharply

Interest on 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 6.26% this week, down from 6.33% a week ago, according to Freddie Mac. This is the lowest reading in five months and fairly close to the lows for this year. A year ago, 30-year fixed home loans stood at 6.31%. 15-year adjustable-rate loans carried an interest of 5.91%, down from 5.99% last week. Last year this time, 15-year ARMs were at 6.02%. 5-year ARMs averaged 5.98%, compared to 6.03% last week and 6.05% a year ago. 1-year adjustable home loans fell to 5.57% from 5.66% last week.

A RealtyTrac report showed that foreclosures have almost doubled in the third quarter, compared to Q3 2006. Although RealtyTrac numbers tend to be somewhat higher than other agencies’, you get the idea. Foreclosures were up 30% from the previous 3 months and according to RealtyTrac’s CEO James Saccacio, foreclosure activity is likely to “increase over the next year in many markets”. He also mentioned that August and September “were the two highest monthly foreclosure filing totals” since January 2005 when RealtyTrac began issuing the report.

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