Rates on the most popular types of mortgages declined, with 30-year fixed rates sliding nearly a tenth of a percentage point to their lowest level since mid-January, according to HSH.com’s Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar. The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell by nine basis points (0.09 percent) to 3.59 percent. Conforming 5/1 Hybrid ARM rates decreased by three basis points, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wraparound weekly survey at an average of 2.62 percent.

“The March employment report was far weaker than expected, with just 88,000 new hires,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com. “This raises concerns that the economy is losing traction as spring unfolds, perhaps following the same pattern seen over the last two years.”

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Rates on the most popular types of mortgages were slightly higher or flat compared to last week according to HSH.com’s Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar. The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by four basis points (0.04 percent) to 3.67 percent. Conforming 5/1 Hybrid ARM rates were unchanged, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wraparound weekly survey at an average of 2.71 percent.

Good news is the culprit

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Rates on the most popular types of mortgages moved in different directions this week, according to HSH.com’s Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar. The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by two basis points (0.02 percent) to 3.47 percent. Conforming 5/1 Hybrid ARM rates decreased by three basis points, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wrap-around weekly survey at an average of 2.65 percent.

“We’re moving closer to not only the ‘fiscal cliff,’ but also to the end of the quarter and year, not to mention the holidays,” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com. “Investors seem undecided as to whether a deal will get done, and seem unclear where to park their funds to make the best of the situation one way or the other.”

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Anton Troianovski of the Wall Street Journal calls it “supreme irony.” I couldn’t agree more. Last year the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group that represents mortgage lenders, walked away from their new, 10-story, glass-walled office building located in the same neighborhood as the White House.

Within a year, that same building was not only bought, it was flipped for a $59.7 million profit. Starting to see the irony? Read the rest of this entry »

By the end of 2008, 12% of American homeowners were at least one month behind on their mortgage or had entered into foreclosure according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The stat jumped 10% from the third quarter of 2008, and up 8% from the end of 2007. The numbers for subprime and adjustable rate borrowers are even worse:

A stunning 48 percent of the nation’s homeowners who have a subprime, adjustable-rate mortgage are behind on their payments or in foreclosure, and the rate for homeowners with all mortgage types hit a new record, new data Thursday showed.

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In an effort to quell foreclosures in New Jersey, the Garden State has adopted a plan to develop a multi-million dollar trust fund to help subprime homeowners avoid foreclosure. The New Jersey Homeownership Preservation Act was just one of seven bills designed to aid homeowners facing foreclosure advanced by Assembly committees on October 6.

Controversy has arisen in a stipulation that would require that any lender that forecloses on a property pay a $2,000 fee to the state. According to Steven M. Goldman, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, New Jersey is on track to reach 50,000 foreclosure filings this year alone. The trust fund is predicted to collect between $27 – $33 million, most of which would be used to hire foreclosure-prevention counselors, non-profits to “restore properties,” and a counseling service that would make “emergency foreclosure prevention assistance loans.”

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