mortgage rates – current mortgage rates

by Jody Shenn – Bloomberg -Dec 13, 2011 10:53 AM CT

Relative yields on mortgage-backed securities that guide new loan rates fell to the lowest in five months as investors wager the Federal Reserve is on standby to expand its holdings if the U.S. economy or Europe’s sovereign debt crisis worsens.

Yields on Fannie Mae’s current-coupon, 30-year bonds ended last week at 94 basis points more than 10-year Treasuries, the narrowest since July 8, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The spread widened to 105 basis points as of 11:30 a.m. in New York after reaching 121 basis points on Nov. 24.

The Fed is already bolstering the market, adding “dollar roll” trades this month that lower financing costs for investors, after starting in October to recycle proceeds from past investments in housing-related debt to help real estate escape its worst slump since the 1930s. While a smaller share of economists predict the central bank will add to its $1 trillion of holdings as the U.S. grows, bond buyers may benefit regardless, said Dwight Asset Management Co.’s Paul Norris.

“Let’s say that something bad happens in Europe,” said Norris, a senior money manager whose Burlington, Vermont-based firm oversees about $50 billion. “Initially mortgages may widen out a bit but what that would likely lead to is a really quick implementation of QE3,” he said, referring to what would be the third round of Fed asset purchases called quantitative easing.

If the situation is reversed and “Europe gets its act together,” benchmark interest rates would probably rise, benefiting mortgage-bonds spreads partly by reducing refinancing and the supply of new securities, Norris