March 13, 2009
March 13, 2009 by admin
The stock market climbed over 700 points this week as investors regained confidence in the health of the economy. The market moved up on Friday, following a study from University of Michigan that consumer confidence has improved slightly in the month of March. The stock market reclaimed the 7000 point level on Thursday and has been led this week by major moves from Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase.
The housing market may begin to see some benefits from the current low mortgage rates and government tax incentives. The continued pressure on stocks have helped to keep fixed rate mortgage loans near historic lows (low five percent range) for most thirty year loan products. With mortgage rates hovering at these levels lenders have seen a surge of consumers looking to refinance their home mortgages, up over 11% for the past week as reported by the mortgage bankers association. The recent move up in the stock market and the improvement in confidence, combined with historic low rates may be the spark that ignites the real estate market. The abundant surplus of homes on the market provide a great buying opportunity for qualified home seekers.
The yield on the ten year bond closed at 2.88% this week, remaining relatively unchanged for the week. This is generally considered a leading indicator for movement with mortgage backed bonds and ultimately how fixed mortgage rates are determined.