Sun State Savings

Last week was a roller-coaster ride in the con­form­ing mort­gage mar­ket.  After open­ing the week by mak­ing new, all-time lows, mar­kets reversed sharply on better-than-expected data in man­u­fac­tur­ing and hous­ing, and data from overseas.

Rates rose through Wednes­day and Thurs­day, then Friday’s jobs report sent rates jumping.

Last week marked the first time that mort­gage rates wors­ened 3 days in a row since late-April.

The com­bi­na­tion of the jobs report not post­ing as poorly as pre­dicted, and light vol­ume because of Labor Day, pushed rates higher by as much as a quarter-percent in some markets.

On the week, con­form­ing mort­gage rates were unchanged but, depend­ing on when you locked, there was great dis­par­ity.  Tuesday’s rates were much bet­ter than Friday’s.

Mean­while, this week, with lit­tle data due for release, mort­gage rates should remain unpre­dictable, mov­ing as a result of momen­tum and out­side influ­ence. It makes for dan­ger­ous times for rate shop­pers.  Mort­gage rates may fall, but, then again, they might rise, too.

Keep in mind that mar­kets are in the midst of a 19-week rally and rates can’t fall for­ever. Mort­gage bonds are likely over­bought so when the sell­ing begins, pric­ing should worsen quickly.  This will cause mort­gage rates to spike.

There­fore, if you’ve been shop­ping for a mort­gage or are just won­der­ing if the time is right to refi­nance, call your loan offi­cer and work the num­bers together. Refi­nanc­ing won’t make sense for every­one, but it may make sense for you.

Mort­gage rates are still excep­tion­ally low.