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Record Lows Continue for Mortgage Rates
Wall Street Journal (07/30/10) P. C10; Becker, Nathan
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to a new low of 4.54 percent this week from 4.56 percent last week and an average of 5.25 percent a year ago. The 15-year fixed loan rate also hit a record low of 4 percent, down from 4.03 percent a week ago and 4.69 percent last year. The five-year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.76 percent, compared to 3.79 percent last week and 4.75 percent a year earlier; and one-year ARMs averaged 3.64 percent, down from 3.7 percent and 4.80 percent, respectively.
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Business Briefs: Official Seeks Cost Recovery
NewsOK (07/30/10)
Capitol Hill legislators plan to study ways to get back at least a portion of the $145 billion the government has poured into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., hearings will be held in September to look at "innovative ideas for recovering the costs" incurred by a federal takeover of the firms. Lawmakers also are expected to brainstorm ways to reform the entire U.S. residential finance sector.
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Federal Reserve's James Bullard: Long-Term Deflation Is a Possibility
Washington Post (07/30/10) P. A15; Irwin, Neil
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard cautions that the country faces the risk of an extended period of falling prices, known as deflation. In a new paper, he contends that the best policy tool to prevent this situation would be "large-scale quantitative easing," but he stops short of endorsing such a move now. Bullard concludes that the Fed's commitment to leave interest rates low for an extended period of time may be raising expectations that prices will remain flat for the long run and thus has "increased the probability of a Japanese-style outcome for the U.S."
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Lawmakers Urge FHFA Appointment
American Banker (07/30/10) P. 16; Kaper, Stacy
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need a permanent director, insist Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the panel's senior Republican. In a letter to the president, the lawmakers stress that the terms of the conservatorship the firms were placed in nearly two years ago give the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency all the powers of the shareholders, directors and officers of the government-sponsored enterprises. The FHFA has not had a director since the agency was formed two years ago.
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Foreclosure Activity Rises in Most Major Metropolitan Areas
Washington Post (07/30/10) P. A14; ElBoghdady, Dina
A new RealtyTrac report shows that the number of homes in the foreclosure process in the first half of the year rose in 154 of 206 U.S. metropolitan areas tracked, with Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona home to the 20 markets with the highest rates. While the number of properties in foreclosure topped 1.6 million nationwide, nine of the 10 areas hit hardest actually registered a decrease in activity.
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