Mortgage Rates Close to ‘Bottoming,’

Mortgage Rates Close to ‘Bottoming,’ Koskinen Says (Update2)
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By Kim Chipman and Romaine Bostick

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Mortgage rates are “probably as good as it’s going to get” and the housing market is likely to rebound sooner than some forecasts, Freddie Mac interim Chief Executive Officer John A. Koskinen said.

“Mortgage rates, if they go down at all further, it’s going to be incremental,” Koskinen told reporters today in Washington after he met with President Barack Obama. “Interest rates are probably close to bottoming out, and therefore we are telling people” to buy a house now.

The U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rate as tracked by Freddie Mac fell to 4.85 percent, the lowest on record, on a government plan to increase purchases of mortgage bonds. The U.S. housing market, the worst since the Great Depression, may improve sooner than some economists’ forecasts as people who had put off home purchases take advantage of a “buyer’s market.”

“This is more attractive than they’ve ever been and about as attractive as they’re ever going to be,” Koskinen said of mortgage rates. ‘We are going to begin to see a lot of home purchases by people on the sidelines who are suddenly discovering ‘hey I can afford a house.’”

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