RECENT BLOG POSTS
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Annualized Single-Family Housing Starts dropped 1 percent in January to 413,000 units nationwide, it's lowest reading almost 2 years. A "Housing Start" is defined as a home on which construction has started. Now, if you had only seen the Housing Starts story in the headlines today, you wouldn't ...
02/17/2011
Homebuilder confidence in the market for newly-built, single family homes appears stable as the spring buying season gets underway in Chicago. The confidence reading is recorded and reported monthly by the National Association of Homebuilders. For the 4th straight month, the group's Housing Mark...
02/16/2011
If consumer spending is a keystone element in the U.S. economic recovery, a full-on rebound is likely underway. Tuesday, the Census Bureau released its national January Retail Sales figures and, for the seventh straight month, the data surpassed expectations. Last month's retail figures climbed ...
02/15/2011
Mortgage markets worsened terribly last week. Amid more reports of an improving economy and fears of pending inflation, mortgage rates skyrocketed to their highest levels since April 2010. According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates made their largest 1-week jump in more than a year last week, tack...
02/14/2011
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Mortgage rates are surging. Over the last 7 days, conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage rates have jumped 24 basis points, or 0.24%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. It's the largest 1-week spike in mortgage rates in recent history. The 30-year fixed rate mor...
02/11/2011
Foreclosure activity is slowing. According to foreclosure-tracker RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure filings dropped 17 percent on an annual basis last month. Monthly filings ticked higher 1 percent after a combined 23 percent decrease through November and December 2010. The phrase "foreclosu...
02/10/2011
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Mortgage markets worsened for the 7th straight day Tuesday, equaling the longest losing streak of the last 5 years. Conventional, 30-year fixed mortgage rates are now scratching 5 percent, with FHA mortgage rates running roughly the same. This is a huge increase from just 11 weeks ago when mortga...
02/09/2011
If your ARM is due to adjust this spring, your best move may be to allow it. Don't rush to refinance -- your rate may be adjusting lower. It's because of how adjusted mortgage rates are calculated. First, let's look at the lifecycle of a conventional, adjustable rate mortgage: There's a "starter...
02/08/2011
Mortgage markets worsened last week as Wall Street came to terms with the expanding economy; and realized the Federal Reserve may be trying to induce inflation. Better-than-expected retail sales and positive job growth buoyed stock markets and sank bonds. Mortgage rates in Illinois rose for the 4...
02/07/2011
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Americans are getting back to work. Sort of. This morning, at 8:30 AM ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Non-Farm Payrolls report for January 2011. More commonly called "the jobs report", the government's data showed a large decrease in the number of working Americans as compared to ...
02/04/2011
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Kevin Lanham
Chicagoland FHA Expert
Do you know what causes mortgage to rise and fall each day? Everyday I post relevant articles and stats that directly influence the direction of mortgage rates. I also will feature relevant real estate news that can educate you about the market. Have a question or a topic you would like me to cover? Feel free to comment!