With 188 bills on the group’s radar and 24 of them before the committee that he co-chairs, Sen. Paul Feeney joked Tuesday that the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association and Executive Director Deborah Sousa have season tickets to hearings of the Joint Committee on Financial Services.
While lenders might have started the year expecting some rate hikes, the size and speed of rising mortgage rates had significant effects on borrowers’ behaviors during the spring and summer mortgage markets.
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates jumped again this week, hitting the highest levels in almost 14 years and pushing even more would-be buyers out of the market.
The share of borrowers applying for an adjustable-rate mortgage is the highest it’s been in 15 years, a new analysis by Zillow has found, but unlike the lead-up to the subprime mortgage crisis, these borrowers remain well-qualified.
Even as mortgage interest rates hit levels not seen since the fall of 2009, early indications show America’s prospective homebuyers appear to be adapting, not quitting the market.
The recent decision to phase out the London Interbank Offered Rate has left banks that issue adjustable rate mortgages tied to the benchmark with plenty of uncertainty. Banker & Tradesman spoke with several community banks in Massachusetts that have issued a significant number of ARMs in recent years, according to data compiled by The Warren Group.
