30-year mortgage rates rise in US

30-year mortgage rates rise in US

What I don’t understand if the housing market is so bad right now why are the interest rates rising? My husband and I are trying to purchase a home but do to the rise in the interest rates we can’t afford to sign due to the high mortgage payment - it’s amazing it seems the mortgage rates should be going down to try and attract more buyers to the market and the people that work hard and are ready in invest in their futures should have that opportunity. This country is going to hell quickly - let the American people keep their jobs, lower the interest rates - give us a damn break

Unregistered;93188:
What I don’t understand if the housing market is so bad right now why are the interest rates rising? My husband and I are trying to purchase a home but do to the rise in the interest rates we can’t afford to sign due to the high mortgage payment - it’s amazing it seems the mortgage rates should be going down to try and attract more buyers to the market and the people that work hard and are ready in invest in their futures should have that opportunity. This country is going to hell quickly - let the American people keep their jobs, lower the interest rates - give us a damn break

you do not seem to have noticed that the Fed has already massively reduced interest rates.
but mortgage rates are going up anyway.
freddie and fannie are still losing money.
so interest rates will be driven higher.
with falling house values and no bottom in sight nobody is selling and nobody is buying.
Nobody will hand you cheap money till inflation destroys the value of current debts.after a few runs on the banks things might get restarted.
but tax revenues from income taxes are falling as the recession sets in.
state and municipal taxes fall as property values and sale taxes fall.
the US people cannot “keep their jobs “they have been outsourced because the americans did not “own” these jobs business seeking profits did.
Manufacturing exept those subsidised military related sections ,departed for the third world years ago.
Now,the economies wheels have fallen off -the finance sectors profitability -gone.
The construction sector-gone as there are too many foreclosed houses waiting to be sold.
The US has been living on credit and consumers credit cards are already maxed out.The US government despite its noise has bailed out the bondholders and banks not the housebuyers your taxes will pay for that.
Its socialise the losses for the rich losers.
What do you want ?The other kind of socialism.Cheap money for you indeed!
thats “unamerican”
Good night to the american empire and good luck

Mortgage relief on the way...
:cool:
Senate passes landmark housing bill
July 26, 2008: Controversial measure aims to help borrowers, bolster the housing market and provide a fail-safe for Fannie and Freddie. Bush is likely to sign it soon.

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The Senate on Saturday overwhelmingly passed a landmark housing bill that will offer up to $300 billion in loans for troubled homeowners and establish a government rescue plan for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The House passed the bill on Wednesday just hours after President Bush reversed his long-standing vow to veto the bill. Bush is expected to sign it soon.

The legislation, one of the most far-reaching on housing in decades, marks the centerpiece of Washington’s efforts to address the nation’s housing meltdown. “This legislation won’t perform miracles. But as others have said, it’s a step - and I hope an important step - to putting our nation on the road to economic recovery," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a principal author of the bill.

Following the vote, Dodd said he will meet on Tuesday with representatives from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to discuss how the legislation can be implemented as quickly as possible. “I’m not going to tolerate a slow walk," he said. Though the Senate vote was 72 to 13, the bill was not without its staunch opponents.

[url=http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/26/news/economy/housing_bill_Senate/index.htm:
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Senate Passes Housing Bill to Bush
Saturday, Jul. 26, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — Congress passed the most significant housing legislation in decades Saturday, offering help to struggling homeowners and seeking to stabilize a troubled housing market that has dragged down the economy.

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President Bush will sign it quickly, the White House said, despite reservations over $3.9 billion in the bill that would aid neighborhoods devastated by the housing crisis buy and fix up foreclosed properties. The bill, approved 72-13 in a rare weekend session in the Senate, would give the government power to throw a financial lifeline to the ailing mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They back or own $5 trillion in mortgages, or nearly half the nation’s total. The rescue plan is intended to prevent the two pillars of the home loan market from failing and causing broader market turmoil, while strengthening oversight of their operations.

An estimated 400,000 homeowners would escape foreclosure by getting the chance to refinance into more affordable loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. There would be higher limits on loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy and the Federal Housing Administration can insure. The loans would be capped at $625,000. The Senate on Friday removed the last hurdle to passage on a 80-13 test vote that showed broad support for the election-year help. The House passed the bill Wednesday.

Bush initially said the proposal was a burdensome bailout for irresponsible borrowers and lenders. But he dropped a threat to veto it this week after Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson argued that the support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was vital to calming markets in the U.S. and abroad. The administration also opposed the aid for neighborhoods, arguing that approach would hurt homeowners by giving lenders an incentive to foreclose rather than help people stay in their homes.

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Fannie and Freddie still losin' money...
:eek:
Fannie, Freddie seen boosting loss estimates, again
Fri Aug 1, 2008 - U.S. mortgage market giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, may report further downgrades to their forecasts for credit losses in their upcoming second-quarter results, starting next week.

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The government-sponsored enterprises have already warned investors that credit-related losses, such as payouts on loans they guarantee, would likely rise through 2008 as falling U.S. home prices aggravate defaults on mortgages. But the collapse in the shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last month, which led to the U.S. Treasury and Congress extending them government support, suggests investors think the companies sorely underestimated the housing market debacle.

Since the two companies' May forecasts, the U.S. housing market has continued to deteriorate, leading credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s this week to raise its loss estimates on risky loans which, in turn, may extend the vicious cycle of asset write-downs at banks. In the market’s view, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may not have enough capital to offset losses and maintain their roles as the engines of the U.S. housing market.

“They’ve increased credit loss expectations for the past three quarters and this next one is probably going to be the fourth," Robert Napoli, an analyst at Piper Jaffray in Chicago, said in a recent interview. Freddie Mac, which in May boosted its forecast for total credit losses in 2008 to 16 basis points or 0.16 percent of their total mortgage book, from 12 basis points, plans to report second-quarter results on Wednesday.

More [url:
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0159911820080801[/url]

Fannie posts another quarterly loss...
:eek:
Fannie Mae: $2.3 Billion 2Q Loss
Friday, Aug. 08, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — Fannie Mae swung to a second-quarter loss that was more than triple what Wall Street expected as conditions in the housing market continued to deteriorate, forcing the mortgage finance giant to make bold cutbacks that will send shock waves through the mortgage market.

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Fannie Mae is raising fees, which will be passed onto borrowers as higher interest rates, and abandoning “Alt-A” borrowers because those loans are defaulting at an alarming rate. These high-risk loans — made to borrowers with solid credit but little proof of their income, or small or no down payments — made up about 11 percent of Fannie’s portfolio but accounted for more than half of its credit losses in the quarter.

“The housing market has returned to earth fast and hard," said Daniel Mudd, Fannie Mae’s president and chief executive. And it appears more bad news is ahead. “Volatility and disruptions in the capital markets became even more pronounced in July," Mudd said. The Washington-based company, the largest U.S. buyer and backer of home loans, said Friday it lost $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share, for the quarter that ended June 30. The loss, the company’s fourth-consecutive quarter of red ink, compares with profit of $1.95 billion, or $1.86 a share, in the period last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected a loss of just 68 cents a share. While revenue rose to $3.97 billion from $1.42 billion a year earlier, Fannie Mae’s losses from defaulting mortgages skyrocketed. Disappointed stockholders sent Fannie Mae’s shares down 9 percent, or 93 cents, to $9.02 in Friday morning trading. Investors continue to worry that Fannie Mae and its smaller government-sponsored sibling, Freddie Mac, will be swamped by losses from the mortgage crisis and won’t be able to raise enough capital. Together, Fannie Mae Freddie Mac, hold or guarantee nearly half of outstanding U.S. mortgage debt.

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$1 trillion in losses? Bank on more
August 8, 2008: Wall Street should not be surprised to see pain in the financial sector linger on for much longer.

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Make no mistake: The worst probably is not over for financial firms. Not by a long shot. Many bank stocks have bounced sharply from their panic-induced lows of mid-July on hopes that the bleak second-quarter results represented the bottom. But the bigger-than-expected losses reported by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae this week, accompanied by dismal forecasts for the housing market, are strong indicators that there are likely more credit-related woes to come.

“The banks are still at the mercy of writedowns. I don’t think the worst is over for financials yet," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist with Charles Schwab & Co. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that global losses tied to the credit crisis will be $945 billion. It’s a widely used number, but Sonders thinks it’s “potentially very conservative." So how high could losses go? Sonders points to the $1.6 trillion forecast from hedge fund firm Bridgewater Associates or even the $2 trillion number from Nouriel Roubini, the highly-respected professor of economics at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

And based on the losses already reported, we’re not even halfway through the crisis. But as scary as those predictions sound, it’s actually somewhat healthy to see forecasts of bigger losses. Sonders said that at some point, the market will probably even begin to discount the fact that there are more losses ahead. They key is that investors have to expect them in the first place. The biggest problem that the market has had to grapple with this year is that investors can’t believe the numbers that banks are reporting.

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http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/08/markets/thebuzz/index.htm[/url]