Quick Hits: Rates Hold Steady, Pending Home Sales Up

• July 28th 2011

by Mark Wellborn

Today in Quick Hits, interest rates remain steady, pending home sales unexpectedly rise, and Shaun Donovan comes out in favor of lowering loan limits on October 1.

• This morning, long-term mortgage rates increased slightly from last week, as Freddie Mac reported that the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.55 percent with 0.8 of a point, up from 4.52 percent last week.

• The number of contracts to purchase previously-owned homes rose 2.4 percent in June, the National Association of Realtors reported today. The increase was unexpected, as many economists predicted that pending sales would actually drop by two percent. The increase is being attributed to seasonal patterns, low-priced homes and a rush by buyers to take advantage of low borrowing costs.

• Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a recent interview that he is in favor of limits on the size of mortgage loans backed by the U.S. government dropping on October 1. From Bloomberg.com:

“We continue to be convinced that this is the right step to take now and that it’s not going to have a major impact on the market going forward,” Donovan said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Conversations with Judy Woodruff,” to be broadcast this weekend. “The loan limits were raised because of the crisis. We have to go back, and we have to get started on that.”

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/quick_hits_rates_hold_steady_pending_sales_up/3881.