Mortgage rates are on a bit of a losing streak!

Spurred on by a dramatic decline in benchmark debt yields, mortgage rates touched new lows last week.  Actually I don't know if I should say  mortgage rates hit new lows. Instead, maybe I should say "more lenders were offering record low mortgage rates last week". Yes a few lenders were spotted quoting 4.00% base rates, but the majority of the market was still pricing par mortgage loans at 4.25%.  A well-qualified borrower's "best execution" combination of rates and points remained  4.375%.

Whatever dip there was ended up being quick because lenders filled their production buckets fast and loan pricing started to suffer on Friday. Since then rates have slowly risen to levels just above record lows (still super aggressive) and loan commitment desks have reported a noticeable increase in consumer mortgage rate locking.

If you lender is alerting you that your "processing turn time" has grown longer, it is possible your borrowing costs have risen 50bps over the past three days. CoughRetailCough. That assumes you didn't already lock in your loan with the herd who did last week. READ MORE

If you applied for a refinance through a small-independent mortgage banker or broker, your borrowing costs are up 0.15% to 0.30% of the loan amount (10 to 20 bps). Your losses are smaller because these originators are usually able to access a greater number of mortgage investors, thus giving you a competitive advantage when the primary mortgage market gets overcrowded like it has in the past few days.  These originators just need to find the lender who is "buying the market".

If you are deciding whether you want to refinance now or wait it out for lower mortgage rates, I do feel borrowing costs have bottomed in the near term. 3.5 MBS are still illiquid...

I have a question for consumers..

HAVE YOU REFINANCED IN THE LAST 20 MONTHS AND ARE YOU CONSIDERING ANOTHER REFINANCE?