Mortgage Rates for Fixed 30-Year U.S. Loans Rise From Record Low to 3.95%
Home Sales
Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg
U.S. mortgage rates for 30-year loans increased from the lowest on record as home sales
rose amid improved consumer confidence and employment data.
U.S. mortgage rates for 30-year loans increased from the lowest on record as home sales
rose amid improved consumer confidence and employment data. Photographer: Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) — David Semmens, a U.S. economist at Standard Chartered Bank, talks about the outlook for the U.S. economy.
Semmens also discusses U.S. Treasuries and Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. He speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance Midday.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) — Michael Pento, president of Pento Portfolio Strategies, talks about the outlook for the U.S. economy and interest rates and investment strategy.
Pento speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance Midday.” (Source: Bloomberg)
U.S. mortgage rates for 30-year
fixed loans increased from the lowest on record as home sales
rose amid improved consumer confidence and employment data.
The average rate for a 30-year (NMCMFUS) fixed loan rose to 3.95
percent in the week ended today, from 3.91 percent last week,
the lowest in records dating to 1971, Freddie Mac said in a
statement. The average 15-year (NMCM15US) rate climbed to 3.24 percent from
3.21 percent, according to the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage-
finance company.
New-home sales jumped to a seven-month high in November,
figures from the Commerce Department showed Dec. 23. The
unemployment rate declined to 8.6 percent last month, the lowest
level in more than two years, and confidence among consumers
reached an eight-month high in December.
“Low interest rates are a necessary condition to help the
housing market but they aren’t sufficient,” Charles Lieberman,
chief investment officer at Advisors Capital Management LLC in
Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, said in an interview before
Freddie Mac (FMCC) made the announcement. “We need some other things
to happen to help housing. The most important of those is for
job growth to continue at a stronger pace.”
The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment
benefits decreased for the week ended Dec. 17 to the lowest
level since April 2008, the Labor Department said last week.
Residential home values, weighed down by foreclosures, fell
3.4 percent in October from a year earlier, according to the
SP/Case-Shiller (SPCS20) index of property values in 20 cities.
A measure of contracts (USPHTMOM) to buy previously owned homes
increased 7.3 percent in November to the highest level since
April 2010 after climbing 10.4 percent the prior month, the
National Association of Realtors said today in Washington.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Prashant Gopal in New York at
pgopal2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Daniel Taub at
dtaub@bloomberg.net
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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-29/mortgage-rates-for-fixed-30-year-u-s-loans-rise-from-record-low-to-3-95-.html
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