Vilified as a chief cause of the global financial crisis three years ago, America's banks appear to be quietly on the mend.
Lending to homebuyers in the U.S. remains little above the depressed levels hit during the recession because banks are wary about lending amid a slew of regulations coming out next year and proliferation of enforcement actions by state and federal regulators, a top mortgage banking official told The Washington Times.
The Federal Reserve touched off the biggest mortgage refinancing wave since 2009 last month by driving the interest rates on 30-year mortgages to record lows near 3.5 percent.
While we all wait for the May employment report Friday, we have received the latest data on the housing market, and it seems there have been differing perspectives on what it means.
The Old World's worries are not necessarily bad news for the New World's economy — at least in the short term.
This past week has been an extremely turbulent one for the stock market — up and down but essentially flat as this is being written. Not only did more than 1,300 companies report their March quarter-end financial results, but we also had another week of (at best) mixed economic data and learned that Britain has fallen into its first double-dip recession since the 1970s.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage dropped near its all-time low this week, making home-buying and refinancing a bargain for those who can qualify.
The average U.S. rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was mostly unchanged this week, as the cost of home-buying and refinancing stayed near record lows.
Top Federal Reserve officials are prodding the White House and Congress to take more aggressive action to stop the free-fall in the housing market, warning that the U.S. economy will remain sluggish and vulnerable and will not fully recover until housing returns to better health.
