Mortgage rates reverse declines

What???

Does this mean that the rate reversal has declined; or that the declining rates have reversed? This article from the Washington Business Journal clarifies it, but just as the headline can be read at least a couple of different ways, so can the mortgage and real estate market be "read" in different ways. Maybe rates are going up, and maybe they aren't. Maybe it's for a day or for a week. Maybe it's a momentary blip. The only thing certain is that rates remain lower now than they have been in the past (when I started in real estate in 1983, they were at 18%!). And it is likely they will rise. But we'll only know that they have hit bottom when we can look back several months after the bottom and see that they indeed bottomed out. It's good reason to consider buying a property in Georgetown or elsewhere.


Washington Business Journal - by Jeff Clabaugh Staff Reporter
Long-term mortgage rates rose for the first time in three weeks, with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage moving above 5 percent.

Freddie Mac's weekly rate report says a 30-year fix averaged 5.05 percent in the week ending Feb. 25, up from 4.93 percent last week. A one year adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 4.15 percent, down from 4.23 percent last week.

"Interest rates for 30-year fixed mortgages followed long-term bond yields higher amid a mixed set of economic data reports," said Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) chief economist Frank Nothaft. "For instance, the January producer price index jumped well above market consensus, but the consumer price index remained subdued and consumer confidence declined to the lowest level since April 2009, according to the Conference Board."

The monthly S&P Case Shiller Housing Price Index report showed home prices in the nation's biggest cities rose for the third consecutive quarter. New home sales unexpectedly fell in January.