Freddie Mac reports a drop in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 4.82 percent during the week ended April 16 from 4.87 percent the prior week, while interest on 15-year fixed loans fell to an average of 4.48 percent from 4.54 percent. The five-year hybrid adjustable mortgage rate slipped to 4.88 percent from 4.93 percent, but the one-year ARM rose to 4.91 percent from 4.83 percent.
Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft says, “The housing industry is starting to exhibit some positive signs, albeit scarce and too early to tell how permanent.” The signs seem to be the same for the Nashville housing market as well. Pending Nashville home sales are up 17% from just 2 months ago, however, we need more data in order to predict rather this is the bottom or not.
We have noticed that some local banks have turned to the real estate auction industry to dump parts of their REO portfolios. Others have decided to hold on to their properties and simply hire a property management company to managed those efficiently. What we do not know is: what percentage of their total REO portfolio do these properties represent. Once we discover that data, we should be able to predict when Nashville’s housing market will hit bottom.
