Thirty-year mortgage rates fell to a low that has not been seen since numbers were first recorded in the 1980s. The rate reached 3.56%. Will that rate help the housing market? So far, the answer is mixed. RealtyTrac reported yesterday that foreclosures rose year-over-year in June, and it suggested the trend will continue. Foreclosed homes usually bring down prices in the neighborhoods around them. This downward pressure causes potential buyers to worry that prices have not found bottom.
Data from Case-Shiller shows that a bottom has not been reached in many large cities. But in a modest number of markets, prices have begun to turn up. Probably home prices are so low there, along with mortgage rates, that they are too cheap to resist.
Doulas A. McIntyre
