Mortgage Rate Trends for the week 03/16/2007

In a week where many American homeowners may be forgive for thinking that the bottom had fallen out of the US housing market, Atlanta mortgage rates offered some surprisingly good news.

According Bankrate.com’s national survey of large lenders, Atlanta mortgage rates recorded drops in both 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages for the fourth straight week. 30-year fixed rate mortgage rates saw the largest week-on-week fall, going from 6.19 percent last week to 6.16 percent this week. 15-year fixed rate mortgage rates also saw a nice week-on-week fall of two basis points, from 5.95 percent last week to 5.93 percent this week.

For those who have 5-year adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), the week ended out with no recorded change from last week, at 6.04 percent.

Although news items relating to record levels of foreclosure in Q4 2006, and troubles within the sub-prime lending housing market do appear to have taken the headlines over the last week, it is certainly worth noting that in prime lending market, which is what we monitor, the rates both year-on-year and month-on-month are much healthier today! It may be hard to visualize, but last year we were all excited that average 30-year fixed rate Atlanta mortgage rates were in the area of 6.43 percent. Even as little as 4 weeks ago the rates were 16 basis points higher than they are today.

All of which goes to show that while American homeowners should certainly be keeping an eye on what is happening in the areas of foreclosure and sub-prime lending, as a general rule we should not be hitting the panic buttons and thinking that the bottom is falling out of the housing market; especially when trends within Atlanta mortgage rates certainly seem to be telling us a different story.