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 4.78 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending April 30, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 4.80 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.06 percent. The 30-year FRM now equals the record low that was set the week of April 2, 2009. It has never been recorded lower in Freddie Mac's survey, which goes back to 1970.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.48 percent with an average 0.7 point, unchanged for the third week in a row. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.59 percent. This is tied with the last two weeks for the lowest the 15-year FRM has been since Freddie Mac began tracking it in August 1991.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.80 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.85 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.73 percent. This is the lowest the 5-year ARM has been since Freddie Mac began tracking it in January 2005.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.77 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.82 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.29 percent.

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

"Rates for fixed-rate mortgages hovered at record lows this week as ARM rates eased further," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgages, the most popular loan among homebuyers and families seeking to refinance, are more than 1.6 percentage points below the recent peak set at the end of October 2008. For a $200,000 loan, this means a monthly savings of almost $212 in mortgage payments or over $2,500 per year. In aggregate, borrowers who refinanced during the first quarter reduced their mortgage payments by about $2.5 billion over the coming year.

"The housing market may be edging towards a bottom. Existing home sales stayed near its four-month average in March while new home sales were stronger than the market consensus. More importantly, the inventory of unsold new homes fell to the lowest number since January 2002. And, the S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-city composite index did not show a record year-over-year decline in February for the first time since December 2006. Finally, housing affordability hit record highs in the first quarter of this year, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors, which date back to January 1971."

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®, www.freddiemac.com

US home prices sharply dropped in February but for the first time since October 2007 the rate of decline slowed suggesting that the housing market might be seeing in the bottom.

The rate of decline with the S&P/Case Shiller 10-city and 20-city home price index did not hit a record decline. S&P said its index of 10 metropolitan areas declined 2.1 percent in February from January for an 18.8 percent year-over-year drop. The 10-city index dates back to 1988.

The index dropped 18.6 percent from February 2008, compared to the 19 percent year-over-year decline in January. The index was also down 2.2% from January. The index has not recorded a price increase since July 2006 and has fallen 30.7% since it peaked during that month.

The housing market is in its worst crisis since the Great Depression home prices fall as caused by the glut of unsold homes, stricter lending standards and record foreclosures push down prices. Of the 20 cities included in the index, 16 recorded a slower rate of decline in February than the month before.

The worst performing cities were Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco Miami and Los Angeles. In Phoenix prices have fallen 35.2 percent over the past 12 months and 4.5% in January, it holds the number spot. Prices are down 51 percent or more than half of their value since peaking in July 2006.

Las Vegas is close behind Phoenix with a 31.7% year-over-year home price decline and was off 3.6 percent for the month. Prices there are off 48.4 percent from their peak.

San Francisco prices fell 31 percent over the past 12 months and 3.3 percent for the month. Miami prices was off 20.5 percent year-over-year and 3 percent month-over-month; and Los Angeles, 24.1 percent lower over the same period last year and down 2 percent on a monthly basis.

Dallas, Denver and Boston had the lowest annual rate of decline 4.5 percent, 5.7 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively.

Furthermore, the median home price for all types of housing dropped 12.4 percent in the past 12 months to $175,200. The median home price for a single-family home plunged 11.5 percent to $174,900.

First-time home buyers accounted for 53 percent of transactions according to NAR and it is believed that the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyer has contributed to the share of first time home buyers.

The results were “a little disappointing” given that homes are more affordable than they’ve been in years and mortgage rates are near record lows, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

Nonetheless, buyer traffic has been rising, and real estate agents are getting phone inquires about the tax credit and it is expected that the impact of record low mortgage interest rates in addition to the stimulus provisions would be felt early summer, he added.

The median sales price in March was $175,200, a plunged of 12.4 percent compared to last year but higher than February’s $168,200. While median sales prices usually increase in early spring, the 4 percent monthly increase was larger than expected.

Existing home sales indicated strong sales recovery in western cities  where prices have dropped the most. He said the rest of the country could start to see improvement in sales by early summer.

Foreclosures and distressed sales are dominating the market as unemployment swells and mortgage crisis continues. This is highly observed in the following sates namely: California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona.

New home sales fell 0.6 percent in March last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 356,000 from a rate of 358,000 according to the Commerce Department report. This is still 30.6 percent below the March 2008 figure of 513,000.

Another sign that the housing woes is bottoming out is the estimated number of new homes for sale at the end of last month was a seasonally adjusted 311,000 where it stood at 328,000 the prior month, according to the Commerce Department.

At the current sales pace, this represents a supply of 10.7 months. That's down from the previous month, when the estimated months of inventory was 11.2, and was almost 2 months below January's level of 12.5. The number of new homes for sale continues to decline and has not recorded any monthly increase since May 2007.

The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2009 was $201,400 down 3.5 percent from the revised $208,700 in February. The average sales price was $258,000. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 311,000.

Fixed-Rates Hover Just Above All Time Low in Freddie Mac Weekly Survey

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 4.80 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending April 23, 2009, down from last week when it averaged 4.82 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.03 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 4.48 percent with an average 0.7 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.62 percent. This is tied with last week for the lowest the 15-year FRM has been since Freddie Mac began tracking it in August 1991.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.85 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.88 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.68 percent. This is the lowest the 5-year ARM has been since Freddie Mac began tracking it in January 2005.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.82 percent this week with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.91 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.29 percent.

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

"Although long-term mortgage rates eased slightly this week, ARM rates remain elevated relative to those fixed-rate mortgages," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "For instance, interest rates for 1-year ARMs exceeded those for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages over the last two weeks; this is the first time this has happened since Freddie Mac began collecting data for ARMs in January 1984.

"The housing market is showing further signs of possible improvement. House prices rose for the second consecutive month in February, the first back-to-back increase since April 2007, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Among the nine Census divisions, six experienced positive gains in February, led by a monthly increase of 3.8 percent in the Pacific Division."

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.freddiemac.com