On the heels of the congress debacle, which kept a decisive action in regards to raising the debt ceiling until the last possible moment, the United States lost its stellar AAA credit rating. The economy continues to flounder and record setting low interest rates are failing to stir the home market back to life. As a matter of fact, last Friday rates on a 30-year mortgage fell to its lowest level since 1971!
Rates moved from 4.32% during the prior week to a new low of 4.15% last Thursday. Rates have not been this low since the 1950's! Although rates have remained below 5% for all but 2 weeks of the past year, yet nationwide sales and prices remain lackluster.
One thing holding borrowers back from taking advantage of these exceptional rates is the difficulty in securing a new loan. Banks are requiring higher credit scores and larger down payments. Those who do qualify have flocked to refinance existing loans and refinanced loans are currently representing over 70% of new mortgages.
In the Tampa bay Beach area, we continue to see "Cash is King", with over 62% of our current sales as cash transactions. To see current rates on our website, Click Here.
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