Reaping the benefits

Americans are not reaping the full benefit of record low yields on Treasuries and Government-supported mortgage bonds, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association...

Although association data shows that the median rate on a fixed 30-year mortgage has fallen to 5.18 per cent from 6.47 per cent in October, the historical relationship between home loans and mortgage bonds shows rates are still around 0.5 per cent too expensive.

Close to £4.54 trillion of home-mortgage bonds were outstanding on September 30th, with around 70 per cent of those mortgage bonds guaranteed by Government-chartered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or federal agency Ginnie Mae, according to Federal Reserve data.

Over 100 mortgage companies have failed since the start of 2007.

Source: www.homesoverseas.co.uk