Shorter-Term Rates Are Mixed

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.96 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 18, 2010, up slightly from last week when it averaged 4.95 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.98 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.33 percent with an average 0.6 point, up slightly from last week when it averaged 4.32 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.61 percent.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 4.09 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 4.05 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.98 percent.

The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 4.12 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.22 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.91 percent.

(Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total cost of obtaining the mortgage.)

"Mortgage rates for fixed-rate mortgages were virtually unchanged this week as the effects of the prior storms emerged in recent housing data," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "New construction slowed by 5.9 percent in February to 575,000 homes. Both the South and Northeast regions had all the declines due to the snow storms. In addition, homebuilder confidence unexpectedly dipped in March according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index .

"With house prices starting to stabilize and even rise, homeowners on aggregate are slowly building back equity in their homes based on figures from the Federal Reserve Board . After losing almost $7.9 trillion in home equity since the end of 2006, homeowners regained almost $1.1 trillion over the past three quarters ending in 2009."

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than five million renters.

Source: Freddiemac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), www.frediemac.com

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 12, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a gauge of mortgage applications in the US fell 1.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous week. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.7 percent from a week earlier.

The index’s refinancing component fell 1.7 percent while the purchase decrease 2.3 percent. The unadjusted Purchase Index declined 1.8 percent compared with the previous week and was 13.9 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is up 0.8 percent. The four week moving average is up 1.1 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is up 0.8 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 67.3 percent of total applications from 67.2 percent a week earlier. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 4.6 percent from 5.1 percent of total applications from the previous week.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed loan dropped to 4.91 percent, the lowest since December, from 5.01 percent the prior week, the group said.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.24 percent from 4.32 percent. The rate on a one-year adjustable mortgage decreased to 6.75 percent from 6.80 percent.

The Commerce department released a report indicating that home construction declined in February. Construction of new homes and apartments registered a seasonally adjusted rate of 575,000 units. This is 5.9 percent below the revised January estimate of 611,000, but is 0.2 percent above the February 2009 rate of 574,000.

Building permits, considered a good gauge of future construction activity, fell 1.6 percent to an annual rate of 612,000 units after having fallen a larger 4.7 percent in January. This is 1.6 percent below the revised January rate of 622,000, but is 11.3 percent above February last year.

The February figures included the 0.6 percent decline in single-family construction to 499,000 units and the more volatile multi-family sector falling 30.3 percent to an annual rate of 76,000 units.

In the Northeast, there was a 9.6 percent drop. In the South was a 15.5 percent decline. Both regions were affected by snowstorms in February.

The construction activity improved in the Midwest by 10.6 percent and in the West by 7.9 percent. Single-family housing starts in February were at a rate of 499,000. This is 0.6 percent below the revised January figure of 502,000. The February rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 58,000.

Today, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released their latest Housing Market Index (HMI) showing declining results for all components as the sentiment index remain near the worst level seen in over 20 years.

The NAHB-HMI, which tracks industry confidence, fell this month by two points to 15, back to its January level.

According to the survey which covered 477 builder-respondents, builders are seeing fewer prospective buyers and are feeling less optimistic about the likelihood of sales over the next six months.

Readings below 50 indicate negative sentiment about the market. The last time the index registered a positive sentiment was in April 2006.

Sales of newly built homes plunged 11 percent to a record low in January, the third consecutive monthly decline. Sales of previously occupied homes, meanwhile, tumbled 7 percent — the sharpest drop since June.

High unemployment and tighter mortgage-lending standards are some of the factors seen keeping some buyers off the market.

For the other components, its reading for current sales conditions slipped two points to 15, foot traffic from prospective buyers fell 2 points to 10, while the sales expectations index over the next six months dropped three points to 24.

U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings fell for a second straight month in February, and registered the smallest year-over-year increase in four years as housing-rescue activities continue, a report released by real estate data firm RealtyTrac on Thursday showed.

Foreclosure filings which include mortgage default notices, house auctions and home repossessions by banks were reported on 308,524 properties in February, down 2 percent from January, but still up 6 percent from the same month a last year.

Experts believed that the possible reasons for the slowdown in foreclosure are the government foreclosure relief programs as well as severe weather appears to have slow down the processing of foreclosure records in some Northeaestern and Mid-Atlantic States.

Foreclosures, considered the biggest threat to the U.S. housing market, remain vulnerable to setbacks as it relies heavily on government rescue and relief programs for its recovery.

There may be more clouds in the forecast, however, due to unemployment numbers and the large number of adjustable rate loans that are still leaving homeowners way under water, RealtyTrac’s VP Rick Sharga said.

"The 6 percent year-over-year increase we saw in February was the smallest annual increase we've seen since January 2006, when we began calculating year-over-year increases, but it still marked the 50th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity" said Realtytrac’s CEO James Saccacio in a statement.

One in every 418 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in February as reported in RealtyTrac’s 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market report.

Nevada’s foreclosure rate remained highest among all the US states for the 38 consecutive month despite a month-over-month drop in foreclosure activity of nearly 7 percent and a year-over-year fall of 30 percent.

In Nevada, one in every 102housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month of February -- more than four times the national average.

In Arizona and Florida, where both registered nearly identical foreclosure rates, with one in every 163 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in both states in February are in second and third spot.

California ranked fourth highest among the states, with one in every 195 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month.