November 3, 2016
Mortgage loan rates recovered a bit on Wednesday, making nearly a full week of either no upward movement or slight recovery on a daily basis. Borrowers affected by these four days will likely have noticed the differences in closing costs rather than adjustments in rates.
There was some attention paid to Wednesday’s Fed announcement, since past versions of this have either moved or had serious potential to move mortgage loan rates based on investor reaction to the contents of such announcements. But this time around, there was nothing noticeable; the markets seem more interested in the uncertainty surrounding political events at the moment.
30-year fixed rate conventional mortgages are still at or near 3.625% best execution. FHA mortgage rate conditions haven’t altered either, holding steady in the comfort zone range between 3.25% and 3.5% that we’ve reported on now for some time. Unless conditions change dramatically, we’ll likely see this range persist for a while longer in the short term.
That said, rates do tend to vary more among participating FHA lenders than for their conventional counterparts, so it pays to shop around for the best rates.
And as always, the best execution rates seen here assume ideal conditions such as outstanding FICO scores, loan repayment history, and other financial factors. The rates you see here are not available to all borrowers or from all lenders, your experience may vary.
There is a scheduled economic data release on Friday; that is causing some industry professionals to advise not floating ahead of the report. The Friday report is centered around non-farm jobs and there’s some unemployment data coming out too. These reports can, depending on investor reaction to the data, move rates in one direction or another as they have in times past, depending on circumstances.
If you haven’t committed to a mortgage rate with your loan officer, “floating” into the Friday data release could prove riskier than usual. That’s why it pays to get some expert advice from your loan officer if you aren’t sure whether to “lock” or “float” before Friday. Make the most informed choice you can and evaluate your risk tolerance ahead of Friday for best results.
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.
Browse by Date: