November 9, 2015
Last week was a tough one for mortgage loan rates–a strong jobs report, Fed testimony on a possible December interest rate hike, and more have combined and helped to push mortgage rates higher.
Since our last report, 30-year fixed rate conventional mortgages have broken into the low four percent zone; at the time of this writing those rates (best execution) are reported in a range between 4.0% and 4.125%.
FHA mortgage rates have also moved higher, leaving the previous comfort zone (best execution) of 3.5% behind in favor of rates at 3.75%. Rates shifted so dramatically that FHA mortgage best execution rates didn’t even move into a range of rates with the previously reported 3.5% at the low end–we just saw them shift from 3.5% to 3.75%.
Remember, these are reported as best-execution rates. Your financial qualifications, the availability of a participating lender, and other factors may all play a part in determining your FHA loan mortgage rate. These rates are not available from all lenders or to all borrowers. Y0ur experience may vary.
Industry professionals are using the work “lock” quite a bit at the time of this writing. It seems that there is a consensus that floating is very risky in the short term at present and it is very likely that we could be witnessing the start of an upward trend as fears and discussion of a potential December rate hike start to increase. The rate hike is an issue that has made for some volatile market conditions in the past and it seems logical to assume some volatility lies ahead.
If you are on the fence about locking or floating when it comes to a home loan interest rate commitment with your lender, ask for some advice before choosing to float, especially if your closing date is coming soon. Some industry pros are advising people to lock if they are 30 days or less away from closing. Lock or float, the choice is yours, but make the most informed decision you can.
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It is designed especially for real estate websites; a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those sites. It is simple to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today:
http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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