Real estate notebook
Published 3:38 pm Friday, March 5, 2010
Mortgages
Mortgages rates have dipped below 5 percent again, four weeks before a government program that is helping keep rates low is scheduled to run out.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 4.97 percent this week, down from 5.05 percent a week earlier, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Rates dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent in December and have hovered around 5 percent since, kept down by a Federal Reserve campaign to spur homebuying by lowering how much it costs to get a home loan.
The central bank’s $1.25 trillion program to buy up mortgage securities is set to expire March 31. But the Fed has held the door open to extending the program if the economy weakens.
Some analysts argue that rates could rise once the Fed’s program ends, hurting both the recovery in housing and the overall economy. Government officials are optimistic that the Fed will be able to end its program without a major disruption.
In a research note Wednesday, Goldman Sachs analyst Sven Jari Stehn said mortgage rates should only show a modest increase once the program ends, though “uncertainty remains significant.”
Also Thursday, data showed pending sales of existing homes dropped 7.6 percent in January from December as stormy weather kept prospective East Coast buyers at home and sales tumbled in the West. The report from the National Association of Realtors was the lowest reading since last April and a disappointment to economists, who had expected the metric to rise.
The index has declined for two out of the past three months because home shoppers feel less rushed after a deadline for a homebuyer tax credit was extended from Nov. 30 to April 30.
News
Windermere Real Estate has opened an office at 204 E. Stanley St. in Granite Falls. The office has seven agents and fill focus on residential, commercial and land sales. The owner is Cheryl Desrosier, a Granite Falls native. She plans a grand opening celebration from noon to 3 p.m. April 10. For more information, call 360-691-7377.
Meetings
Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) will hold a breakfast meeting from 7:30 to 9 a.m. March 25 that will include a presentation on how to effectively negotiate compensation. The meeting will be held in the 44th floor conference room of the Wells Fargo Center, 999 Third Ave., Seattle.
Send your real estate news to Mike Benbow, Business editor, The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206, by fax at 425-339-3435 or by e-mail at economy@heraldnet.com.
