What's up with rates this week 1/23/13

1. Current Mortgage Rates for Wednesday, January 23, 2013

   Treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities are rallying today , and if the rally is sustained  rates could make up some of the ground they lost last week. Will the rally be sustained? Today is a relatively quiet day, and no economic data of any real import will be published. The day-to-day swings that we see in the financial markets are often impossible to explain, but if you take a step back, mortgage rates have been remarkably consistent for the past several months, and there really is no reason to believe there will be a change of course in the immediate future.
   
   Ty Laffoon
   619-767-8687

20 Hottest Home Sales In San Diego County By Zip Code

Last month, San Diego County recorded its best month in home sales in six years for a December, the latest numbers from DataQuick show. Last month's tally was 3,757 transactions. The previous high for a December was 3,823 in 2006.

Here are the Top 20 ZIP codes that saw the biggest percentage jumps in sales when comparing December of this year to the same month a year ago. Areas with at least 10 sales were logged are included in the list.

December 2012 home sales

Rank	Neighborhood	ZIP code	Sold '11	Sold '12	Sold % Chg	Median '11	Median '12	Median % Chg
1	Jamul	91935	5	12	140.0%	$605,000	$333,500	-44.9%
2	Ocean Beach	92107	12	24	100.0%	$567,000	$592,000	4.4%
3	Carlsbad NE	92010	24	48	100.0%	$444,500	$537,500	20.9%
4	San Carlos	92119	19	37	94.7%	$310,000	$352,000	13.5%
5	Chula Vista NE	91914	31	60	93.5%	$550,000	$505,750	-8.0%
6	Tierrasanta	92124	17	30	76.5%	$355,000	$413,500	16.5%
7	Rancho Santa Fe	92067	8	14	75.0%	$1,750,000	$1,900,000	8.6%
8	Carlsbad SW	92011	26	44	69.2%	$549,000	$710,000	29.3%
9	Carlsbad NW	92008	21	35	66.7%	$466,500	$560,509	20.2%
10	Oceanside (Central)	92058	15	24	60.0%	$165,000	$239,750	45.3%
11	Vista S	92081	22	34	54.5%	$324,955	$368,500	13.4%
12	Rancho Bernardo E	92128	66	100	51.5%	$280,000	$385,000	37.5%
13	San Marcos N	92069	49	74	51.0%	$330,000	$350,000	6.1%
14	Imperial Beach	91932	14	21	50.0%	$232,000	$286,500	23.5%
15	Point Loma	92106	24	35	45.8%	$575,000	$675,000	17.4%
16	National City	91950	18	26	44.4%	$249,750	$230,000	-7.9%
17	Clairemont	92117	42	60	42.9%	$350,000	$390,000	11.4%
18	Hillcrest Mission Hills	92103	35	50	42.9%	$350,000	$475,000	35.7%
19	Lakeside	92040	35	50	42.9%	$300,000	$251,500	-16.2%
20	Mission Beach Pacific Beach	92109	38	53	39.5%	$472,500	$550,000	16.4%

Source: DataQuick

Ty Laffoon 

Prime Mortgage Loans

Rates on the Rise. Are they to keep climbing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Average rates on fixed mortgages rose this week but remained close to record lows.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan increased to 3.40% from 3.34% last week. That's still near the 3.31% rate reached in November, lowest on records dating to 1971.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.66% in 2012, lowest annual average in 65 years, according to Freddie Mac.
The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage increased to 2.66% from 2.64% last week. The record low is 2.63%.
Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on 10-year Treasury notes. The yield has risen this year from 1.70% to 1.89% Thursday.
A deal between Congress and the White House to avoid sharp tax increases and a mildly positive employment report for December led investors last week to buy stocks and sell Treasurys. As prices and demand for Treasurys decline, the yield increases.
Cheaper mortgages are a key reason the housing market began to come back last year. Many economists predict the housing recovery will strengthen in 2013.
Home prices are steadily increasing, which makes consumers feel wealthier and more likely to spend.
Another reason for the housing rebound is that there aren't enough houses for sale. A limited supply has created demand for new construction, which has made builders more confident.
Lower mortgage rates also have persuaded more people to refinance. That typically leads to lower monthly mortgage payments and gives homeowners more discretionary cash to spend. Consumer spending drives nearly 70% of economic activity.
Still, the housing market has a long way to a full recovery. And many people are unable to take advantage of the low rates, either because they can't qualify for stricter lending rules or they lack the money to meet larger down payment requirements.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday each week. The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1% of the loan amount.
The average fee for 30-year loans was unchanged at 0.7 point. The fee for 15-year loans ticked up to 0.7 from 0.6 point.
The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 2.60% from 2.57%. The fee for one-year adjustable-rate loans edged up to 0.5 from 0.4 point.
The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage declined to 2.67% from 2.71% last week. The fee was steady at 0.6 point.

Ty Laffoon

Are you going to get priced out of the housing market in 2013?

Some real-estate analysts are predicting that the nascent housing recovery could accelerate more quickly than expected in 2013, jacking up prices in some areas by double digits. Would an increase like that price you out of the market?
In this installment of Buying Advice, we'll look at the forecast for prices in the year ahead and examine how this outlook might affect your home search. We'll also check in with the latest housing data and get some advice on the best way to evaluate a condominium's association fees.
Can you afford to wait?
The housing recovery seems almost too new to pose much of a threat to affordability. But in some areas, it's chugging along a lot faster than in others, as demand pushes up against a dwindling supply of homes for sale.
J.P. Morgan last month revised its U.S. housing forecast upward, predicting an overall gain of 3% to 4% in home prices for 2013. In some markets, however, the pace of gains has already been dramatic enough to strain the budgets of many first-time buyers before the spring selling season even begins.


Ty Laffoon
Prime Mortgage Loans
619-630-0396

forgiven mortgage debt has been extended through 2013 as part of "fiscal cliff" talks over the weekend.

A law that gives financially strained home-sellers tax relief on forgiven mortgage debt has been extended through 2013 as part of "fiscal cliff" talks over the weekend.

Mortgage debt that's been forgiven by lenders in short sales or loan workouts is typically taxable, which means money coming out of borrowers' pocketbooks. Help arrived in 2007, when the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act came to be, giving people a break from taxable income on loan balances of up to $2 million, or $1 million for a married tax filer who's submitting a separate return.

That law was set to expire at the start of 2013 but was among the individual tax breaks saved in the fiscal-cliff deal. Local real estate professionals kept a close watch on its future because roughly 30 percent of home resales in San Diego County are short sales, deals in which homeowners sell their properties for less than they're worth as long as banks approve.

These types of deals surged in 2012 mainly because of a national mortgage settlement that forces banks to offer consumers housing relief. Roughly two-thirds of the help offered to California borrowers in the deal arrived in the form of short sales.

The expiration of the mortgage-debt relief act could have led to serious economic consequences for San Diego County and other parts of the nation, said local housing analyst Alan Nevin. Possible outcomes included a surge in bankruptcies and foreclosures because certain borrowers would have been stuck with a tax bill after a short sale or loan modification.

The law's expiration also could have slashed the county's already lower-than-normal housing inventory, Nevin added. Without the tax benefit, fewer homeowners would have attempted to do short sales, which would mean fewer homes entering an already slimmed-down market.

"If it was not extended, there would've been a number of people who also would have just let their homes go back to the lender,

Ty Laffoon 

Prime Mortgage Loans

619-360-0396

Originally Written by

Lily Leung