And they keep dropping and dropping and dropping, bubble ben bernanke is doing a fine, fine, fine job of keeping housing prices stable. Millions of people are going to go out and refinance at the lower rate and spend all the money on new cars, 102" big screen tvs, new ipods, new appliances and computers and long vacations, revive the economy by dropping mortgage rates and having that money pump the economy back up. Bubble ben bernanke knows how to prop up a worthless economy or what. Mortgage rates hit decades-low of 4.32 percent Average rates for 30-year fixed mortgages drop to 4.32 pct., lowest rate in decades ap Daniel Wagner, AP Business Writer, On Thursday September 2, 2010, 10:27 am WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the tenth time in 11 weeks, as investors worried about the economy. The average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 4.32 percent this week, down from 4.36 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That's the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. The average rate on 15-year fixed loan dropped to 3.83 percent from 3.86 percent the previous week. That's the lowest on records starting in 1991. Rates have been falling since spring as investors have shifted money into safer Treasury bonds. That has lowered their yields, which mortgage rates tend to track. The low rates have fueled a wave of refinancing by borrowers. Refinancing is at its highest level since May 2009 and makes up almost 83 percent of all new loans, its highest share since January 2009. People seeking lower rates helped boost mortgage applications by 2.7 percent last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced Wednesday. However, the low rates haven't been enough to lift the struggling housing market. Home sales are at the lowest level in more than a decade. Potential buyers are holding off purchases, worried about jobs and the economy. Some are having trouble meeting tighter lending standards. To calculate the national average, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day. Average rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.54 percent from 3.56 percent the week before. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to an average rate of 3.50 percent from 3.52 percent. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year and 1-year mortgages. They averaged 0.6 of a point for 15-year and 5-year mortgages.
Its pretty amazing our nations amount of tolerance for a complete clown like Bernanke. I guess if we tolerant scientology then why not tolerate idiot economists. Clearly they believe in absurdities
Americans on the whole are so politically, economically and financially naive we barely know what to bitch about.
Agreed. I think our legal system has elevated the right to bitch and complain to a level that is beyond silly. Does anyone really believe gay marriage, abortion etc are basic rights questions? Clearly there is no right answer. The concept of the good is not the same for everyone.
Look at "green energy." It's been a huge part of Obama's platform. If you listen to him, he's going to be the first president to start a top-down economic revolution along the lines of automobiles, the internet, etc. However, if you have just a basic knowlege of math/physics and know the properties of wind/solar/other alt energy sources, you'll know this is a boldfaced lie. You could litter the whole countryside with solar panels and wind gizmos and still not get close to meeting our energy needs. If there's going to be an energy revolution, it will have to come from nuclear and nat gas. That's just one example. I won't even get started on Keynesiot economics (even Keynes himself probably wouldn't approve of what's being done in his name now).
He's told so many lies, this one just gets lost in the mosh. "Green energy" has a ring to it, don't you think? Just the kind of Leftist, "tree-hugging, hippie crap".. Cartman.. the Commie idealogues love to spew. Not that we shouldn't use it where economically feasible, we should. But "green" doesn't have the potential to replace fossil fuels. Natural Gas, however, is what we should be working.... We have tons of it here, could employ Americans at home to develop the infrastructure and vehicle upgrades... and we could stop sending, what, $60B/mo to the ragheads... How stupid are we?
Like the guy at the Discovery Channel yesterday? He got started down that path after watching Albore's inconveniently awful video. Notice how the lamestream press buries his enviro-extremism in the articles. It would be all over the headlines if he were a tea party-goer.
Why dont they just drop them under 1% and start a whole refinancing boom and buying frenzy in the housing market, it will be just like old times. Isnt that what they want to turn these markets around I mean bubble ben bernanke should be just handing out mortgages at fucking .50% for that matter. Go BUBBLE BEN, GO.
If you think this is low, you just wait a couple more years. I say by 2013, it will be so low people will want to sell their babies to refinance. But then again, look what has been happening in Japan for the last 20 years: "Japan's decade-long banking crisis has created a substantial number of problems in the mortgage market, resulting in a considerable drop in land and home prices. Consequently, a great deal of money is tied up in problem loans, representing a severe misallocation of resources in the Japanese economy. " (Source: http://www.economywatch.com/mortgage/japan.html) Did you catch that? That's right, nonperforming loans exacerbated by the ballooning government subsidies (or debt, however you look at it).