Some Interesting Comments On US Mortgage Apps

On CNBC, Diane Olick wrote the following, Watch The Mortgage Apps

The following passages were interesting for me.

• Suffice it to say that for anyone arguing that the bump up in mortgage rates isn’t a big deal, your answer is pretty clear: It is a big deal. Yes, I realize that historically 5.5 percent on the 30-year fixed is low, but history doesn’t mean anything in today’s housing market. 70 percent of all loans in existence are from the bubble years, when 5.5 percent to 6.25 percent was common, according to Mark Hanson of the Field Check Group. This is a market unlike any other, where potential buyers are used to lower interest rates, and borrowers in trouble are in need of lower interest rates to avoid foreclosure.
  
  Refis that were in the pipeline are falling out, due to the higher rates, and fence-sitters are clearly keeping the pole up their you-know-what while the rates stay higher. Given the macro-economic picture right now, without some kind of government intervention (unlikely again due to the macro forces), mortgage rates aren’t going to go down. So where does that leave housing?
  
  Yes, there are investors out there, paying cash and bidding up some of the lowest of the low-end properties. But the mid to higher end is dead, thanks to far higher jumbo rates. So what’s the Administration to do? They like the economy coming back of course, but a comeback will inevitably mean higher mortgage rates. It’s a double-edged sword that slices right through Obama’s housing recovery plan, half of which is all about refinancing borrowers out of danger.