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Sacramento Mortgage Rates: Rates in Review, New Conforming Loan Limits, and Nehemiah Updates
Sacramento mortgage rates shot up to 6.24% this week from 5.5% during the week of January 24th, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly rate survey. Most people are still under the impression that the Fed adjusts mortgage rates or that mortgage rates move in lock step with Fed cuts. In recent weeks, Sacramento mortgage rates have done exactly the opposite. The market is a bit better this morning on news of flat consumer spending and lower consumer sentiment.
Nehemiah Gets The Cold Shoulder
I wrote about combining FHA + Nehemiah: a Path to 103% Financing a few weeks ago. It’s one of only a couple ways left to structure 100% financing. Several title insurance companies and at least one wholesale bank announced this week that they will disassociate themselves from deals where the Nehemiah program is being used. Nehemiah has survived numerous challenges in its non-profit status over the years, and it has another court test approaching. Are these companies are putting some distance between themselves and what will be hind-sighted as yet another contributor to the meltdown?
New Conforming Loan Limits
As the deadline approaches for HUD’s assessment of median prices, hopes fade for any meaningful increase in Sacramento conforming loan limits. According to my sources, Sacramento will be designated as a “high cost” area, but with median prices somewhere in the low $300k range, the formula may yield only a small increase, if any. Higher limits could unlock S.F. Bay Area markets and send more relocations our way to absorb inventory in the upper prices range.