After gaining ground over the past two weeks, Florida mortgage markets finished last week relatively unchanged.
Home loan rates were dropped early in the week – only to move up again late-Friday afternoon. All in all, we’re seeing much of the same mortgage rate volatility we’ve seen most of this past year.
As I’ve said often on this blog, mortgage markets move up and down based on positive and negative news. This pas week was no exception. On the positive side:
- Fed Chairman “Uncle” Ben Bernanke announced that he feels the recession is “very likely over“
- Retail Sales came in a whole lot stronger than expected
- Warren Buffett told the good folks at CNBC that he is officially “back in the market”
On the down side, Housing Starts stalled a bit, and corporate earnings dropped off.
Things Impacting the Florida Home Loan Market This Week
For the week starting September 21, 2009 – we’ll see several key new releases hit the wires – including an Existing Home Sales report on Thursday, and Consumer Sentiment and New Homes Sales on Friday. I’m most interested in the Consumer Sentiment numbers, as the nation’s economy goes the way of its citizens.
When folks stop spending – whether they’re fresh out of disposable income or are simply socking it away – the economy stalls.
That said, the one event you should remain mindful of this week is the coming 2-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The FOMC is the policy setting arm of the Federal Reserve. Each time this committee meets, markets have a tendency to get frisky… volatile, I mean.
Markets expect the FOMC to leave the Fed Funds Rate within its current “target range” of 0.000-0.250 percent but that doesn’t mean mortgage rates will remain unchanged. Though the Fed’s rate does impact mortgage rates in Florida and across the country – its effect is never immediate. Still – depending on the wording of the FOMC’s post-meeting press release, mortgage rates could rise or fall by quite a bit. (Speculation will indeed rear its ugly head.)
The FOMC adjourns from its 2-day meeting Wednesday at 2:15 PM. Until then, stay tuned both here, and via my twitter feed at www.twitter.com/flmortgagepro.
(Image courtesy: Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons)
I hope you found this post useful! As always, if you or anyone you know is in need of a local Florida mortgage broker, I’m your guy. Call me at 863-604-3019 or apply online for your Florida mortgage. We’ll keep you posted and let you know when it’s time to pull the trigger!
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- What Florida Mortgage Borrowers Should Know About the Federal Reserve’s Relationship to Mortgage Rates Florida mortgage rates are indirectly impacted by the Federal Reserve's...
Let’s hope for a positive outcome for all