Mortgage Industry Blog

Annualized Single-Family Housing Starts dropped 1 percent in January to 413,000 units nationwide, it's lowest reading almost 2 years. A "Housing Start" is defined as a home on which construction has started.  Now, if you had only seen the Housing Starts story in the headlines today, you wouldn't ...

The Federal Reserve released its January 25-26, 2011 meeting minutes Wednesday afternoon. South Carolina mortgage rates have been in flux since. Fed Minutes are comprehensive recaps of Federal Open Market Committee meetings; a detailed look at the debates and discussions that shape our nation's m...

Homebuilder confidence in the market for newly-built, single family homes appears stable as the spring buying season gets underway in Greenville. The confidence reading is recorded and reported monthly by the National Association of Homebuilders. For the 4th straight month, the group's Housing M...

If consumer spending is a keystone element in the U.S. economic recovery, a full-on rebound is likely underway. Tuesday, the Census Bureau released its national January Retail Sales figures and, for the seventh straight month, the data surpassed expectations. Last month's retail figures climbed ...

Mortgage markets worsened terribly last week. Amid more reports of an improving economy and fears of pending inflation, mortgage rates skyrocketed to their highest levels since April 2010.  According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates made their largest 1-week jump in more than a year last week, tack...

What is a QR code?QR Codes (Quick Response Codes) are 2-dimensional bar codes that have actually been around since 1994. They have widely used throughout Japan and in parts of Europe. With the increased adoption of mobile phones, they are increasing in popularity in the United States. QR Code is ...

Mortgage rates are surging. Over the last 7 days, conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage rates have jumped 24 basis points, or 0.24%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. It's the largest 1-week spike in mortgage rates in recent history. The 30-year fixed rate mor...

Foreclosure activity is slowing. According to foreclosure-tracker RealtyTrac, the number of foreclosure filings dropped 17 percent on an annual basis last month. Monthly filings ticked higher 1 percent after a combined 23 percent decrease through November and December 2010. The phrase "foreclosu...

Mortgage markets worsened for the 7th straight day Tuesday, equaling the longest losing streak of the last 5 years. Conventional, 30-year fixed mortgage rates are now scratching 5 percent, with FHA mortgage rates running roughly the same. This is a huge increase from just 11 weeks ago when mortga...

  If your ARM is due to adjust this spring, your best move may be to allow it. Don't rush to refinance - your rate may be adjusting lower. It's because of how adjusted mortgage rates are calculated. First, let's look at the lifecycle of a conventional, adjustable rate mortgage: There's a "starter...