Tag: General News

By Kate Wood | NerdWallet

Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have hit yet another high, with lenders offering loans above 8% for the first time since 2000. Mortgage rates have gone up rapidly this year, rising two full percentage points from lows near 6% back in February.

That’s been brutal for home buyers, who have watched their buying power erode. At a 6% interest rate, a buyer looking to spend $2,000 a month on principal and interest could afford a loan of roughly $333,500. With interest rates at 8%, that same buyer can afford only $272,500. Their target home price has dropped $61,000 as more of that monthly payment has to go toward servicing interest.

Here’s why mortgage interest rates are so high, and why they could remain elevated. Still, there are ways that home buyers can contend with such a challenging housing market.

Why mortgage rates climbed so high

A year ago, many housing economists, including in forecasts from Fannie Mae and the Mortgage Bankers Association, were anticipating that today’s mortgage rates would be in the 5-6% range. Though that seems wildly off base now, at the time it looked pretty reasonable.

“Last year around this time, the Fed was in the midst of hiking interest rates very rapidly,” explains Chen Zhao, head of economic research at Redfin. “And most economic forecasters were really looking at this and saying, OK, this is most likely going to lead to a recession.”

A recession could have forced the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, with mortgage rates likely falling, too. But that recession hasn’t arrived.

“Despite what the Fed has done, hiking rates at the fastest rate ever, the economy, especially the job market, has really just remained very resilient. As a result, investors are now expecting that the economy is going to avoid a recession and remain very strong for longer,” Zhao says. “And that means that the economy can sustain higher mortgage rates for a longer amount of time.”

Where are mortgage rates headed in 2024?

Looking at last year’s predictions for 2023, it’s clear that a lot can change in just a few months. With political upheaval in the U.S. and multiple wars overseas, there’s potential for tectonic shifts in markets and in economic policy.

“I would say that right now uncertainty is unusually high,” Zhao comments. “Maybe the most plausible forecast would be to say that rates are probably going to stay in this range for the near term or at least in the foreseeable future.” But Zhao also outlines scenarios for mortgage rates going lower — an economic downturn forcing the Federal Reserve to encourage economic activity by easing interest rates — or higher, if mortgage spreads remain elevated.

The mortgage spread is the difference between the 30-year fixed mortgage rate and 10-year Treasury rate. “Historically, the spread between the 10-year Treasury and the 30-year mortgage rates is about 1 3/4%,” explains Melissa Cohn, New York-based regional vice president and mortgage banker at William Raveis Mortgage. Because of economic and geopolitical volatility, “Those spreads have grown over the course of the past couple of years, and our mortgage rates are now trading at 3% or higher above the 10-year Treasury.”

That said, it’s also worth noting that while we haven’t seen mortgage interest rates this high in 23 years, prevailing interest rates are in line with longer-term historical averages. Interest rates collected by government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac, which go back to 1971, are widely used as the yardstick for mortgage interest rates. Over that half century, the average 30-year fixed interest rate has been 7.74%.

“Looking holistically at the entire history, we’re about where the average is,” comments Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research for the National Association of Realtors. Lautz points out that recent history is fairly exceptional: “We don’t want to say that the interest rate of 18 is normal, but the interest rate of 2.5 is also not normal,” she says, referring to historic highs of the early 1980s and the low point of 2020. “Both of those were very unusual time periods for interest rates.”

How high rates might affect buyers’ plans

Higher interest rates have got home buyers scrambling to keep their budgets in line with costs. But buyers should also consider the wider effects that rates have on the housing market and how these could play out.

Cohn contends that those who can afford to buy now, despite high interest rates, are likely better off going ahead with a purchase, as home prices continue to rise. “Are you better off buying in the higher-rate environment today and paying hundreds of dollars more a month in a mortgage payment so that you can refinance in a year when rates are down instead of having to pay 5% more on the purchase price of that home in a year?” she asks. This argument assumes interest rates will drop, but it’s also worth noting that while today’s buyer waits for rates to fall, they’re building equity.

Lautz also leans toward acting now if you can, but for different reasons. With housing inventory limited, a drop in interest rates could bring currently priced-out buyers off the sidelines, driving up home prices. “I do think there is pent-up demand,” Lautz explains, “and so they may be facing a multiple-offer situation.” In other words, lower rates could lead to the return of bidding wars.

What home buyers can do now

If you’re in the position to buy a home despite today’s mortgage rates, there are a few steps you can take to buffer the effects of high rates.

Get all the help you can: If you’re a first-time home buyer, look into state and local programs that provide down payment and closing cost assistance. These can be no- or low-interest loans or even outright grants. You may not even have to be a true first-timer: Many programs consider you a first-time home buyer if you haven’t had an ownership interest in a home in at least three years.

Consider a variety of home types: Rather than a detached, single-family home, a condo or townhouse might better suit your budget. New construction is worth a look, as newly built homes are nearly one-third of the current market. Home builders with robust inventories are often able to provide incentives that make new homes more affordable.

Be interest-rate-aware: When you’re researching sample interest rates at various lenders, read the fine print. With rates so high, many lenders are including discount points — prepaid mortgage interest — to make their sample rates appear lower. Buying points can be a good strategy, but there’s an upfront cost, so you want to know if they’re included when trying to decide which lender has the best rates for you.

 

The article As Mortgage Rates Top 8%, What Home Buyers Should Know originally appeared on NerdWallet.

SANTA CLARA — On the Bengals’ third play from scrimmage Sunday afternoon, the 49ers’ defense surrounded quarterback Joe Burrow with the kind of pressure it lacked six days earlier, failing to record a single sack in a Monday night loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

On third-and-10, Burrow backpedaled as the pocket collapsed around him and found no safe haven. Arik Armstead’s 290-pound frame soon hung from his shoulder blades. But soon enough, the 49ers defensive lineman and another one of his cohorts, Nick Bosa, were on their backs in the backfield. Still upright, Burrow unleashed a completion to Tee Higgins, converting the first down, and five plays later was celebrating in Levi’s Stadium’s north end zone.

The tone was set. The 49ers’ defense, which looked so daunting just a few weeks ago, was hardly able to slow down the Bengals’ All-Pro quarterback, let alone take him down, in an eventual 31-17 defeat, entering their bye week with a third straight loss and newfound question marks.

“It was a huge play. I missed the sack on that play. That was my fault,” Armstead said. “I’ve got to do a better job of being lower and getting him down to the ground. I felt that was a huge play, a momentum shift. We get them off the field on their first possession, it’s a different game. But they go all the way down and score.”

After two incompletions to start the game — including a near-interception dropped by Isaiah Oliver — the escape act started a streak of 19 straight completions for Burrow, who ended the game 28-of-32 for 283 yards passing and a trio of touchdowns.

The Bengals put up 400 total yards, their most of the season. By halftime, they had already strung together 20 first downs, more than they totaled in four quarters in their last game.

“Dang,” Armstead said upon being informed of Burrow’s stats, “I didn’t know he played that well.”

Ja’Marr Chase caught 10 passes for 100 yards. Higgins added five for 69. And East Bay native Joe Mixon contributed a season-high 87 yards on the ground — 134 total for Cincinnati, which hadn’t been averaging even half that many — ending his day by high-stepping into the end zone for the game-sealing score with 5 minutes to play.

Burrow extended multiple plays with his feet — the injured calf that hampered him to start the season benefitting from their bye week entering Sunday — and even picked up 10 yards on third-and-9 with a designed run, scampering through an empty middle of the field on a quarterback draw.

“Joe looked really mobile. He definitely had his eyes on the rush,” said defensive end Nick Bosa, who has only 2½ sacks through eight weeks after recording 18½ last season. “He was manipulating the pocket really well, which I don’t think he was able to do early in the season. That was big, those scrambles for yards (and) first downs.”

San Francisco was able to wrap up the quarterback for three sacks, which was three more than last week.

Armstead provided a pair — his first in the regular season since 2021 — including what looked to be a pivotal third-down stop in the first half, pushing Evan McPherson’s field goal attempt back seven yards. He shanked the 50-yard attempt wide right, keeping the 49ers within a touchdown, 14-7.

But they were also flagged for five penalties, two of them the Bengals declined because they preferred the result of the play. And a defense that prides itself on flocking to the ball also let numerous ball carriers slip out of their grasp, two issues coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive captain Fred Warner were quick to flag after the game.

“I thought our tackling was extremely sloppy today, especially in the first half,” Shanahan said.

“I think tackling has been an issue when it hasn’t been in the past,” Warner said. “Players got to execute at a higher level, including myself. We got to play more as a unit. There’s got to be more hunt to the football at all three levels. There’s got to be more penalty-free football.”

But it wasn’t just Sunday.

In the last three weeks — three losses — San Francisco has surrendered an average of 395.3 yards per game. The opposition has scored an average of 24 points in those games.

That’s quite the step back from their 5-0 start to the season, when the 49ers were allowing 266.8 yards and 9.7 points per game.

“Not the performances we wanted to have these last couple weeks,” Armstead said. “It’s been different each game. I feel like getting off to better starts is always helpful. Then just stacking series. I feel there is a little bit of inconsistency with our defense right now. We have a good drive, then the next drive we don’t play so well. So just getting that consistency back of being dominant for an entirety of a game is what I think we need to do.”

It was an ill-timed blitz call that drew the ire of fans — and Shanahan — directed toward defensive coordinator Steve Wilks last week.

But in the aftermath of a third poor showing in a row, Wilks received only words of support in the locker room after Sunday’s loss.

“Nothing’s on Coach, honestly,” Hufanga said. “He says a call, we’ve got to play it. We’ve got to bring the call to life.”

“That’s the least of my worries, honestly,” Warner said. “I think players win games, not coaches.”

Whether it comes from Wilks or elsewhere, the 49ers enter their bye week in need of solutions.

The trade deadline is coming up Tuesday, but Shanahan said “I do believe we have the answers in our building.”

The team already made a splash by acquiring pass rusher Randy Gregory from the Broncos. Suiting up for the first time three weeks ago, Gregory is still waiting to celebrate his first win. He was credited with one tackle against Cincinnati.

“It’s a learning experience,” Gregory said of joining the team mid-year. “I’ve picked up on a lot the last three weeks. But I want to go out there and put a better product out on the field and make some plays.”

Gregory observed the 49ers’ once-dominant unit from afar, and its identity has been instilled to him on a daily basis since joining the squad.

How would he describe it?

Looking back on Joe Thornton’s 24-year NHL career, time has given everyone some valuable perspective.

In the middle of it, particularly when he was at the height of his powers with the San Jose Sharks, fans could marvel at his skill, the fluidity and verve with which he played along with his extraordinary creativity and competitiveness. He was an artist, with a nasty streak.

One could argue that during the 2000s, Thornton was the best player in the NHL on a year-in and year-out basis, perhaps even after 2005 when Sidney Crosby first came into the league. Certainly, no one amassed more points (886) that decade than Joe.

His election to the Hockey Hall of Fame – after he becomes eligible in three years – is a given.

But the caveat with Thornton, at least in some people’s minds, was he never won a Stanley Cup. Year after year, the Boston Bruins, the Sharks, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Florida Panthers all had terrific regular seasons only to fall short of winning 16 games once the postseason began.

On Nov. 1, 2011, the day after Thornton said the Sharks shouldn’t have lost to a “soft” Rangers team, then-New York coach John Tortorella fired back, saying, “Joe’s a heck of a player, but here’s a player popping off about our team, and Joe hasn’t won a (expletive) thing in this league. He could go down as a player, being one of the better players in our league never to win anything.”

But narrowing Thornton’s career down to just one aspect misses the broader picture, especially when it comes to his impact in San Jose.

The Sharks were a good team in the mid-2000s but things might have started to become a bit stale in the first two months of the 2005-2006 season, as San Jose’s record dipped to 8-12-4 after a 10-game losing streak. By acquiring Thornton from the Bruins on Nov. 30, 2005, in one of the more lopsided trades of the decade, former Sharks general manager Doug Wilson helped set the franchise up for a decade-plus run of success on and off the ice.

From Dec. 1, 2005, to March 12, 2020, no NHL team had a greater points percentage than the Sharks’ mark of .622. After the trade, San Jose would go on to make the playoffs in 13 of the next 14 years, growing the team’s profile across the league. They always had a seat at the table, and always gave themselves a chance.

Starting with Thornton’s first full season in San Jose in 2006-2007, average attendance for home games dipped below 17,000 just once in 14 years, including a sellout streak that lasted 205 games — 177 regular season and 28 in the playoffs — from Dec. 2009 to Oct. 2014.

“He changed the franchise,” Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. “(The arena) was packed when I came in 2006 and Joe was a big deal. We had other big players as well, but I think Joe turned it around.”

Those look like the Sharks’ salad days right now.

The Sharks are set to miss the playoffs for a fifth straight year and are well on their way to finishing with less than 20 wins for just the third time in a non-work stoppage season. The franchise record for fewest wins in one full year is 11, a low established in 1992-1993.

So far this season, in four home games, the Sharks’ average announced attendance is 14,437, or 82.8 percent of capacity, the third-lowest figure in the league.

Tomas Hertl is the Sharks’ No. 1 center right now, and the team’s leading point producer. But even he will tell you that he’s not at Thornton’s Hall of Fame level.

So, who knows when the Sharks will again have a No. 1 center like Thornton? Does Will Smith, drafted fourth overall by the Sharks in June, have that capability? Or will whoever the Sharks use their first pick on next year, such as Macklin Celebrini if the team has some lottery luck, be of Thornton’s ilk?

That can’t be ruled out, but it’s hardly a guarantee.

After all, no one even knows when the Sharks are going to be able to make the playoffs again.

Let’s be honest: Sharks fans may have taken all of that for granted during the Thornton era.

The Sharks came close to winning a Stanley Cup in 2016 when they captured the Western Conference for the first time and came within two victories of winning it all. The next year, the Sharks might have been able to make another deep run had Thornton, then 37, not suffered ACL and MCL tears in his left knee. Thornton, remarkably, still played four playoff games but the Sharks lost in the first round to Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.

The Santa Cruz Warriors selected 6-foot-3 guard Marcus Burk and 6-9 forward Arinze Chidom in the 2023 NBA G League draft on Saturday.

Burk was chosen with the 16th overall pick. A former standout at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), he appeared in 46 games, 30 of which were starts, with the Grand Rapids Gold from 2021-23. He averaged 10.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game, while shooting 37.9% from the field for the Gold.

He started his collegiate career at Campbell University (2016-18) before transferring to IUPUI (2018-21). During his senior year, Burk averaged 21.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 34.1 minutes per game, while shooting 48.1% from the field.

Chidom, a 2015 graduate of Bishop O’Dowd High in Oakland, was selected 27th overall. He appeared in 77 games and made 46 starts split between Washington State (2017-19) and UC Riverside (2019-21). He averaged 8.4 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.6 minutes per game, while shooting 46.5% from the field and 40.6% from behind the arc. During his senior year, the forward posted averages of 13.2 points and 5.3 rebounds, while shooting 47.0% from the field across 20 games, all of which he started.

SANTA CLARA — There was a point this season when the 49ers looked unbeatable. Now, it’s hard to remember how they ever won a game.

Humbling comes easy in the NFL. It arrived fast for the 49ers.

After starting the season with five straight wins — four of them blowouts — the 49ers will head into their bye week with a three-game losing streak, a second-place standing in the NFC West, and plenty of bad vibes.

And after Sunday’s 31-17 loss to the Bengals, fans should be worried that the 49ers’ best football is behind them this season.

Not only is this team falling apart physically, but the Niners also have serious problems at the top of the football operation.

The two core tenets of winning in the NFL are solid coaching and prudent quarterback play.

If your team has both, you will consistently be one of the NFL’s better teams.

But the last three weeks — all losses — the 49ers have lacked both.

And there’s no guarantee the solid coaching or quarterback play returns after the bye week, either.

The book is out on first-year defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. It’s not a complicated read, either.

Wilks came to Santa Clara to take command of the NFL’s best defense this past offseason. Wilks is the Niners’ third defensive coordinator under head coach Kyle Shanahan, but unlike Robert Saleh, who built the defense, or DeMeco Ryans, who was on Salah’s staff, Wilks is the first with an outsider’s perspective.

Wilks didn’t change much with the 49ers’ defense in the first few weeks. He said he wanted to feel things out, so he called simple, high-school-level plays and allowed the elite players on the field to control the game.

That worked in the early weeks of the season when opposing offenses were in a stage of self-discovery.

But we’re at the mid-point of the season now, and opposing offenses know what they can and cannot do. Just as important — they know what the Niners can and cannot do.

Wilks is still yet to change anything.

The lack of ingenuity or creativity was glaring when the Niners lost to the Browns, unavoidable when they lost to the Vikings the next week, and downright comical on Sunday against Cincinnati.

Against a near-exclusive diet of vanilla zone defense, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow completed 28 of 32 passes Sunday. Burrow is a great quarterback, but I’m not sure he could complete 87 percent of his passes without a defense on the field.

Wilks put his defense in position to fail snap after snap, and the players on the field followed through. Wilks was timid in the press box — that’s where he calls the game, as opposed to the Niners’ last two defensive coordinators — and his team played timidly a few hundred feet below, missing tackles and allowing easy passes and runs to become big gains.

Cincinnati had a game’s worth of first downs in the first half. When the Niners threatened to make a game out of it in the second half, the Bengals immediately answered with easy scores.

It shouldn’t be this easy. Not when the defense has two of the best players in the game and plenty of talent around them.

Shanahan gave Wilks a vote of confidence after the game, but over the next two weeks, something must change. After the Niners’ defensive coaching staff was plundered amid Saleh and Ryans’ exits over the last few seasons, there’s no obvious choice to replace Wilks on this coaching staff. That’s part of the problem, and it’s up to him to fix it, as Shanahan — who runs the team’s offense — outsources the defense.

And Wilks has no track record with this team to suggest he can fix what ails this defense.

What a waste of talent.

But Wilks’ failures don’t exonerate Shanahan or quarterback Brock Purdy, either.

The partnership that once looked unbeatable — they won their first 13 games together — has looked lost the last three weeks as injuries have sidelined two of the team’s three best offensive players.

Without do-it-all wide receiver Deebo Samuel and All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, both injured in Cleveland, the 49ers have only mustered 17 points per game — a far cry from the 30-plus they were averaging the first five games of the season.

Like on defense, the Niners are becoming predictable on offense. Shanahan is still calling some big-gain plays here and there, and Purdy is still making big-time throws and extending plays with his feet, but the Niners’ offense can no longer effectively run the ball behind a poor offensive line, and Purdy is now turning the ball over at a losing clip.

Purdy started the season with nine touchdown passes to one turnover in the Niners’ first five games.

In the last three weeks, he has five interceptions to three touchdown passes. On Sunday, he threw interceptions on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter, burying San Francisco.

Purdy isn’t a scrub — he’s still the best quarterback Shanahan has started in San Francisco — but in the last three weeks, with the defense faltering, the 23-year-old has been put in a position to win or lose the game for the Niners.

He’s not that kind of quarterback. Not yet. Perhaps not ever.

Sure enough, Purdy has lost all three games, and his level of culpability has increased with each passing (or, rather, intercepting) game.

It’s on Purdy not to turn the ball over and Shanahan not to put him in positions to make those mistakes moving forward.

Early in the season, both were doing their jobs. Until that competency returns, the Niners cannot be considered a title contender.

The tragic part is that this team has the talent — even with key injuries — to be one of the NFL’s best. It might even be the best team in the league. That 5-0 start wasn’t a fluke.