REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Could Mortgage Rates Drop to 5 Percent?

REALTOR® Magazine Online: The real estate professional's business support tool.

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Search REALTORMag...

OR FOCUS YOUR SEARCH

NEWS & COMMENTARY

Inside For Brokers

Connect

Social Networking

Follow, fan, or friend us online.

Your Magazine

Magnifying your voice and celebrating your accomplishments

CURRENT ISSUE

PAST ISSUES

Daily Real Estate News | November 6, 2007 | Could Mortgage Rates Drop to 5 Percent?
The manager of the world’s largest bond fund predicted Monday that the Federal Reserve “cannot afford” to let U.S. housing prices fall and will have to cut interest rates aggressively to prevent it from happening.

"A Fed cannot afford to let homes go down by 10 to 15 percent like we saw in Japan," Bill Gross, chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., said on CNBC Television. "We've only begun to see the pain from the standpoint of the home owner in terms of those monthly payments. Defaults and delinquencies will increase as we extend throughout 2007 and then into 2008."

Gross expects the Fed to cut the federal funds short-term rate to 3.5 percent, which implies that the 30-year mortgage rates will come down to 5 percent to 5.5 percent.

Source: Reuters News (11/05/07)