The Massachusetts Mortgage Broker

Your Daily Mortgage Commentary & Rate Lock Advice for Massachusetts Mortgage Rates
Courtesy of the Massachusetts Mortgage Broker

Wednesday’s bond market had initially opened down slightly but has since moved into positive territory during Fed Chairman Bernanke’s congressional testimony. The stock markets are posting fairly strong gains after the Senate passed a $15 billion jobs creation bill. The Dow is currently up 75 points while the Nasdaq has gained 20 points. The bond market is currently up 4/32, which should improve this morning’s Massachusetts mortgage rates by approximately .125 of a discount point.

January’s New Home Sales report was posted late this morning, showing a surprising drop in sales of newly constructed homes. The 11.2% decline in sales last month dropped them to their lowest level on record. That indicates that the housing sector is not as stable as some wanted to believe and can be good news for the bond market. However, this data covered only approximately 15% of all home sales in the U.S. Friday’s Existing Home Sales report tracks the other 85% of sales.

Chairman Bernanke is in the process of delivering the Fed’s semi-annual testimony on the status of the economy to the House Financial Services Committee. During his prepared statement he indicated concern about the employment sector and the unemployment rate that is expected to remain high for quite some time. He also said that he expects inflation to remain under control. Both were good news for the bond market and helped move bonds into positive ground.

He will continue to answer questions from committee members and any surprise answers could lead to more volatility in the markets today. He will repeat this performance for the Senate Banking committee tomorrow, but the second day usually does not bring many surprises. The prepared statement will likely be quite similar to today’s speech, so any shocking developments will have to come from the Q & A part of the proceeding.

The only important data scheduled for release tomorrow is January’s Durable Goods Orders data. This data gives us an important measurement of manufacturing sector strength by tracking orders at U.S. factories for items expected to last three or more years. A smaller increase than the 1.4% that is expected would be good news for the bond market and Massachusetts mortgage rates. This data is quite volatile from month-to-month, so large swings are fairly normal.

We will also get weekly unemployment figures from the Labor Department, but unless there is a wide variance between the announced number of new claims and the 460,000 total that is expected, this data will probably have little impact on tomorrow’s mortgage pricing.

If I were considering purchasing or refinancing a home and predicting likely Massachusetts mortgage rates, I would…

Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days…
Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days…
Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days…
Lock if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now.

This is only a general opinion of what I would do if I were considering whether to lock or float a Massachusetts mortgage based on the current mortgage market. Your individual situation may be different. Contact me if you would like advice for your particular circumstances.

For detailed information on Massachusetts mortgage rates, check out my article, “Massachusetts Mortgage Rates Revealed – How Lenders Determine Mortgage Rates Every Day“.

Copyright : Mortgage Commentary

Geof McLaughlin, better known as The Massachusetts Mortgage Broker, is a nationally acclaimed mortgage professional committed to educating and empowering consumers about all things mortgage through his popular Massachusetts Mortgage Broker blog.

Geof is a top loan originator for one of the country’s leading mortgage companies, Mortgage Master Inc, with a proven reputation of offering its clients the best Massachusetts mortgage rates and lowest closing costs. He can be reached directly at 508.656.0055 or at geof@MAMortgageBroker.com.

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