The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that most customers are taking advantage of the low rates to refinance their current loans.
There are two primary reasons to refinance a mortgage: to get a better interest rate or to secure cash from a home’s equity. Correspondingly, the demand for loans to purchase a home is down after a busy spring due in part to the expiration of the federal home buyers tax credit on April 30.
Fueled by the April 30 contract deadline for the federal home buyer’s tax credit, area home sales saw huge gains in April versus a year ago. The Houston market overall had 26.7 percent more single family homes sold in April versus last year.
Two local HAR areas did better than the market. In the Kingwood area (HAR #32), one hundred single family homes were sold during the month – a 29.9% increase.
Montgomery County
As predicted by a surge of mortgage applications nationwide last month, closed sales of single family homes in the Houston market climbed 11 percent in March versus a year ago.
The three HAR areas served by Keller Williams Realty Northeast saw sales gains as well. Nine percent more homes were sold in both Area 1 (Atascocita/Humble) and Area 32 (Kingwood) compared to last year. Area 40 (southeast Montgomery County) exceeded the market’s results with a hefty gain of 17.4 percent more homes sold this March.
Last week, the Federal Reserve did as promised and discontinued its policy of buying mortgage-backed securities as of March 31. By purchasing housing loans, the Fed has provided much-needed capital for distressed lenders and investors. The policy was in effect to help subsidize the housing market and keep mortgages rates abnormally low.
So what do the experts predict will happen to the mortgage rates? The leader of Freddie Mac, one of the two government-run mortgage financing companies, does not foresee an upswing in the rates in the immediate future. “There’s not going to be, at least in the short term, a major dislocation and a major move up in mortgage rates,” said Freddie Mac CEO Ed Haldeman in a recent Forbes.com article.
On Tuesday (3/16), the Houston Association of Realtors released housing sales statistics for February 2010. While the number of homes on the market increased for the month, existing single family home sales were down in Houston and in two out of the three northeast Houston areas served by Keller Williams Realty Northeast.
Reflecting an abundance of pent up sellers, listings on resale homes were up versus a year ago across the area. Houston overall saw a two percent gain in single family homes on the market in February versus last year. Area 1 (Atascocita/Humble) saw 3.2 percent more homes listed; Area 32 (Kingwood) had a 7.9 percent increase; and Area 40 (Southeast Montgomery County) had 14.8 percent more houses listed for sale.