Below is an excerpt from of our latest Market Trends newsletter, Keith Gumbinger’s latest examination of the economic conditions that influenced mortgage rates. Sign up to receive the Market Trends in your inbox Friday evening.

A cascade of fresh economic data came out last week, variously reflecting economic conditions in both March and April. A “big picture” look at the data might lead one to an “economy is still troubled” conclusion despite the current 2.5 percent run rate for Gross Domestic Product.

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The post below first appeared on U.S. News & World Report’s Home Front blog on April 26. A special thanks to Meg Handley and the entire Home Front team:

So far, 2013 has been an up-and-down year for mortgage rates. After cresting in March, rates for average for 30-year conforming fixed-rate mortgages have sunk by about a quarter percentage point, currently just above the low point for this year.

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Rates on the most popular types of mortgages moved in slightly different directions, with a drop for fixed rates and a slight climb for ARMs, according to HSH.com’s Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar. The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by three basis points (0.03 percent) to 3.51 percent. Conforming 5/1 Hybrid ARM rates increased by two basis points, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wraparound weekly survey at an average of 2.61 percent.

“Compared with the last quarter of 2012, the economy grew at a faster rate in the first quarter of 2013, but only at a muted pace, and with a decidedly soft end in March. Since then, there have been few signs of improvement, so mortgage rates remain in a flat-to-falling pattern,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com. “The Federal Reserve finishes their regular policy meeting today, and it seems likely that policies to keep both interest rates and mortgage rates low will remain fully in place for the foreseeable future.”

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Today’s home buyers naturally want to purchase a home that will hold its value until they sell it sometime in the future. But it can be downright difficult to predict what type of home other people will want to purchase years or decades from now.

House of the future

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Below is an excerpt from of our latest Market Trends newsletter, Keith Gumbinger’s latest examination of the economic conditions that influenced mortgage rates. Sign up to receive the Market Trends in your inbox Friday evening.

The effects of weak economic headwinds do produce some tangible benefits. There may be silver linings to be seen among the clouds of economic slowness, at least for some.

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The long-recognized trend of couples living together before marriage has encouraged a new pattern: more couples are buying a home together before their wedding.

A new study from Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate revealed that one in four couples between the ages of 18 and 34 bought a home together before they got married, compared to 14 percent of married couples age 45 and older. Among all the married couples surveyed, 17 percent purchased a home together before their wedding day.

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Rates on the most popular mortgages types drifted downward again, according to HSH.com’s Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar. The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by two basis points (0.02 percent) to 3.54 percent. Conforming 5/1 Hybrid ARM rates decreased by a single basis point, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wraparound weekly survey at average of 2.59 percent.

“Fixed mortgage rates are a stone’s throw from record lows, while five-one hybrid ARMs are already there,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com. “There’s no better way to welcome the spring homebuying season than with rock-bottom mortgage rates.”

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Sales of existing homes and condominiums in the U.S. declined slightly in March as prospective buyers faced rising prices, bidding wars and constrained supplies of homes from which to choose.

That’s all according to a home sales report released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors. Read the rest of this entry »

Below is an excerpt from of our latest Market Trends newsletter, a weekly examination of the economic conditions that influenced mortgage rates. Sign up to receive the Market Trends in your inbox Friday evening.

The drumbeat of mediocre economic news continues, and interest rates have settled, with fixed rate mortgages sliding to a place near their lowest levels of 2013.

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Below is a post by David Quilty, first appearing on our partner site the Quizzle blog at Quizzle.com:

Property taxes can be appealed? Yep. And apparently a lot more of us should be looking into it, because it’s estimated that 40 percent of Americans are overpaying. How is this possible?

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