5 housing predictions from a property-level profile of underwater homeowners

Here's part of the story.

Takeaways: There are still 7.4 million who owe at least 25 percent more on their home than what it is worth -- representing 13 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage. 30 percent of underwater homeowners don't live in their home, which could mean that more single-family rental inventory will become available. The average loan-to-value ratio is 182 percent, which might mean that the underwater problem could linger for at least another five years.  The shrinking pool of underwater homeowners continues to have an important impact on the U.S. housing market. Using the property-level data behind RealtyTrac's latest Home Equity and Underwater Report, we profiled the 7.4 million U.S. homeowners still seriously underwater to make five housing market predictions relating 

As housing market struggles, the rich are refinancing

Here's the story from CNBC.

  Mortgage interest rates bumped decidedly back over 4 percent last week, causing a drop in both mortgage applications to refinance and to purchase a home.
Total application volume fell 6.6 percent from the previous week, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Refinance applications were off 7 percent week-to-week, after soaring in previous weeks, thanks to lower interest rates.

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Lower mortgage rates a silver lining of stock market drops

Here's the story from the LA Times.

If there's an upside to a plunging stock market, it's that mortgage rates are falling too.
Investors bailing out on stocks have piled into ultra-safe U.S. Treasury bonds, pushing down the government's long-term borrowing costs on Wednesday to the lowest level since June 2013 — about 2.1% annual interest on the 10-year Treasury note. That yield was more than 2.5% at the end of September.
That means fixed mortgage rates, which tend to track the long-term Treasury yield, also are trending down. And that could perk up the lethargic real-estate industry.

With stocks down there is a flight to safety, being bonds, with that, mortgage rates, which are tied to bonds, are dropping. More coverage of the issue here and here.

Bond Limbo: How Low Can Rates Go

It's not only CNBC which is predicting continued low rates, here's more analysis from CNN.

Stocks rebounded later in the morning but the sell-off worsened as the day wore on. The Dow was down more than 400 points by mid-afternoon.
Strangely enough though, it seems that investors are still bullish on America in spite of the market volatility. They are doubling down their bets on U.S. Treasury bonds.

The rate on a 10 Year Treasury plunged Wednesday morning to 1.86% -- its lowest level since May 2013. Yields fall when investors are buying bonds.

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Mortgage rate drop sparks refinancing boomlet

More analysis of interest rates leading to a refinancing resurgence.

Falling mortgage rates are turning the numbers around once again – at least when it comes to refinances.

Total mortgage application volume rose 5.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). This data was collected even before interest rates crossed below the psychologically significant 4 percent mark Tuesday. The surge was all in refinance applications, which jumped 11 percent week-to-week, but which are still off 27 percent from one year ago.

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