Mortgage Rate Happenings

According to Freddie Mac, interest rates have reached record lows with the 11th consecutive week of interest rate declines. Here is your financial update from Prosperity Mortgage. I hope this information will be helpful to you. Bottom line, mortgage rates are at an all time low and its a great time to invest in real estate. Mortgage bond pricesfell last week pushing rates higher despite continued signs of economicweakness. The Senate approved additional TARP funding pushing another$350 billion into the effort to stem the credit crisis. Consumersentiment came in surprisingly better than expected despite headlinesdominated by news that financial firms continue to struggle as Bank ofAmerica requested an additional 25 billion from Tarp funds to completethe Merrill Lynch merger. Earnings from banking giant JP Morgan Chasedid surprise for the fourth quarter as they showed a profit of 7 centsper share, while analysts expected no profit for the fourth quarter. TheFed Chairman Bernanke indicated the timing of a global economic recoverywas “highly uncertain.” Statements like this and the global economichealth as a whole caused investors to place money into treasurysecurities and out of stocks and mortgage backed securities causinginterest rates on government and conventional loans to rise by about 3/4of a discount point. It seems mortgage rates are fluctuating between a4.75% and 5.25%. It will be interesting to see if mortgage rates comeback below 5% in the coming week.