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Affordable Financial Services Finance Review

The number of mortgage applications fell 6.5% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA also reported that refinancing activity also fell by 6.5% to 64.9% of total applications last week, down from 65.7% the week before. The four-week moving average for all mortgage applications was down 2.5%. Adjustable-rate mortgages made up 5.5% …

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Affordable Financial Services’ Weekly Finance Review

The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales in December jumped 12.3% from the previous month. The NAR recently reported a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.28 million units in December, compared to the upwardly revised figure of 4.70 million units in November. However, the December 2010 figures are 2.9% below the December 2009 figure …

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Mortgage Applications Decline by 2.3%

Housing Wire recently reported that mortgage applications to lenders fell 2.3% for the week ending December 10, marking the third straight week of declines.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the refinance index also declined for the fifth consecutive week by 0.7%. However, the refinancing share of the mortgage activity grew to 76.7% of total applications, …

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Mortgage-Bond Yields Reach Four-Month High

Bloomberg recently reported that mortgage-bond yields that guide home-loan rates have reached their highest levels in four months, suggesting that borrowing costs may rise from record lows.

As of 9:30 Monday morning, Fannie Mae’s current-coupon 30-year fixed-rate mortgage bonds went up to 3.71%, tracking 10-year Treasury notes today as those yields rose from 3.64%. This is …

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Fannie, Freddie May Need $154 Billion to Survive — Maybe More

Today’s Wall Street Journal reported that it will cost taxpayers another $154 billion to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac afloat under the most likely scenario for home prices. But if the economy slides back into a recession and the housing market worsens, then the price tag to the taxpayers can be higher than that.

The …

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Government Seeks to Simplify Mortgage Process

The Associated Press reported today that the Obama administration is looking to make it easier for consumers who wish to take out a home mortgage.

Last week, Obama advisor Elizabeth Warren and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the administration would quickly implement a number of consumer protections that are part of the sweeping overhaul of the …

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Affordable Financial Services Weekly Finance Review

The National Association of Realtors recently reported that existing home sales in August were up 7.6% from the previous month. The NAR reported a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.13 million units in August, compared to the upwardly revised figure of 3.84 million units in July. However, last month’s figures were off by 19%, compared to …

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Some Homeowners Unable to Take Advantage of Record-Low Interest Rates

With mortgage rates at record lows, some homeowners are still not taking advantage of them, but through no fault of their own. Today’s CNNMoney article reports how the new lending requirements are turning away borrowers who, under the old lending rules, would have been eligible for a loan.

Last week, mortgage rates fell for the eighth …

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Record-Low Interest Rates Do Nothing for Mortgage Applications

Despite mortgage rates falling to their lowest levels in decades, applications for home loans remained stagnant, the Associated Press reported today.

The Mortgage Bankers Association says that overall applications rose 0.6% from the previous week, according to the AP. Applications for refinancing and home purchases increased by seasonally adjusted rates of 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively. The …

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Freddie Mac Asks for $1.8 Billion More To Cover Losses

In order to cover their losses on the bad loans they took in the past quarter, Freddie Mac is asking for $1.8 billion in additional federal aid, the Associated Press reported today. Between April and June, Freddie Mac lost $6 billion which could be attributed to the $1.3 billion in dividends paid to the Treasury …

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