April 2008 
There are 4 blog entries for April 2008.
Oregon Mortgage Rates - Great News For Real Estate Buyers
Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 8:58pm. 552 Views, 3 Comments.
Rates are about the same this week as last. They did, in fact, go down a bit during the first part of the week, but the ongoing fear of inflation keeps bumping rates back up. The biggest underlying factor keeping this fear alive is the anticipation that the Federal Reserve will change their strategy for rate cuts at their next meeting on April 30 th . It is believed that they will either make a smaller cut (.25% instead of the .50% we've last seen), or possibly make no cut at all. Bond investors are sure this would be a mistake, and inflation would increase dramatically.
The Federal Reserve seems to want to take a wait and see approach; allowing the Stimulus Package and the previous Fed cuts to actually take effect before cutting more. I think this is…
Oregon Real Estate Buyers Should Make Move While Mortgage Rates Remain Low
Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 1:25am. 585 Views, 1 Comments.
Another bumpy week, but this time it's been more ups than downs. As shown below, mortgage rates have increased across the board by about .25%. This in spite of several economic reports that again paint the economy in a rather dim light. Investors are definitely accentuating the positive in terms of the stock market. They have been pulling funds from the bond market in fear of the “I” word. Rightfully so, in current conditions, sense inflation erodes the value of bonds, and inflation is most certainly a concern.
The Consumer Price Index came in showing an increase of 4% in retail prices over March of 07. Most of the increase was due to energy, transportation, and food costs, which are usually not heavily considered because of their ongoing volatility.…
Mortgage Rates - Good News For Home Buyers With Lower Rates
Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 1:13am. 718 Views, 8 Comments.
Bond market pricing went up today, after being down yesterday, and up the day before, and down the day before that, and so on. But, today's monthly report out of the University of Michigan , formally known as "The Index of Consumer Sentiment", showed a reading of 63.2. Don't worry about the number itself, what matters is that the number came in well below what the analysts were expecting, and means consumers are far more worried about their financial well-being than previously thought, by people who are well paid to know. The concern about personal finances, tend to keep consumers from spending as much, and re-thinking any large purchases.
This matters to the bond market, and particularly to mortgage rates. Because, since consumer spending makes up…
Oregon Real Estate - Mortgage Up-Date For Week End April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 6:42pm. 559 Views, 0 Comments.
The employment figures for March were released today by the Labor Dept. Not so good on the national front. The unemployment figure rose to 5.1% with 80,000 jobs lost during the month. These numbers are certainly not good, and once again point toward the likelihood of a true recession. I think, however, that not near enough time has passed to accurately judge the effects, of the actions taken by the Federal Reserve and the administration's Stimulus Package. Over-correcting can bring a more disastrous result than a slightly bumpy off-road experience with minor damage.
It's important, in these uncertain times to keep our eyes focused on the local market, and the things we can actually control. Locally, we're not seeing a major slowing of the economy,…
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