| Mortgage interest rates moved down slightly this | | | | 5-yr ARM $1197.81 |
| week. This was a good sign since it was not | | | | 1-yr ARM $1109.36 |
| preceded by any rate cuts from the FED. The 30 | | | | August 14th |
| year mortgage rate fell from 6.52 to 6.47 and the 15 | | | | 30-yr $1266.76 |
| year mortgage rate fell from 6.07 to 6.00. For arms | | | | 15-yr $1695.28 |
| the 5 year rate fell from 6.02 to 5.99. The 1 year arm | | | | 5-yr ARM $1201.67 |
| was the only one of the 4 rates to increase going | | | | 1-yr ARM $1095.75 |
| from 5.18 to 5.29. If anything the mortgage rates are | | | | July 24th |
| not more in align with each other. Over the past few | | | | 30-yr $1281.28 |
| weeks the difference between the 1 year arm and the | | | | 15-yr $1707.22 |
| other rates has seemed larger than normal. | | | | 5-yr ARM $1219.75 |
| To put this weeks changes in context of what has | | | | 1-yr ARM $1134.32 |
| happened over this summer mortgage rates are still | | | | So what else is going on in the mortgage industry. First |
| quite a bit higher than earlier. For the 30 Year | | | | it looks like the government might take over Freddie |
| mortgage on May 22 rates fell to 5.98. Then by July | | | | Mac and Fannie Mae. A few months ago it was made |
| 24 rates raised to 6.63. So rates have fallen since then | | | | clear that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae would be |
| but we are still quite a bit higher than the rates we | | | | protected while other smaller banks would be allowed |
| saw in May. Below are mortgage rates for the last | | | | to fail. Now with Freddie and Fannie running into serious |
| few weeks. | | | | financial problems (Freddie Mac stock has sank from |
| August 21,2008 | | | | 65.88 to 4.75). Oddly enough one of the problems |
| 30-yr 6.47 15-yr 6.00 5-yr ARM 5.99 1-yr ARM 5.29 | | | | Freddie Mac faces is that because the US |
| August 14,2008 | | | | government has made it clear Freddie Mac is too large |
| 30-yr 6.52 15-yr 6.07 5-yr ARM 6.02 1-yr ARM 5.18 | | | | to fall, investors are hesitant to give funds to Freddie |
| August 7,2008 | | | | Mac under the assumption that their investment will not |
| 30-yr 6.52 15-yr 6.1 5-yr ARM 6.05 1-yr ARM 5.22 | | | | be repaid following a government takeover. |
| July 31,2008 | | | | So what will happen following the government |
| 30-yr 6.52 15-yr 6.07 5-yr ARM 6.07 1-yr ARM 5.27 | | | | takeover of Freddie Mac. Personally I think it will be |
| July 24,2008 | | | | positive. Over the last several months Freddie Mac |
| 30-yr 6.63 15-yr 6.18 5-yr ARM 6.16 1-yr ARM 5.49 | | | | has created a pretty large list of loans they will not |
| So let's see what these mortgage rates would mean | | | | provide backing for. This has hurt the ability of people |
| for an actual mortgage payment. We ran today's | | | | to get loans and in turn has been one of the negative |
| mortgage rates through our free mortgage calculator | | | | factors dragging down the national real estate market. |
| for a 200k loan. We also looked at what the | | | | If the government takes over Freddie Mac a lot of |
| payments would have been on the same mortgage a | | | | these restrictions will probably be pulled back. So while |
| week and a month ago. | | | | it won't magically cure all the problems with the national |
| August 21st | | | | real estate market it will alleviate at least one of the |
| 30-yr $1260.19 | | | | negative factors weighting it down. |
| 15-yr $1687.71 | | | | |