30-year Mortgage Rate drops to 3.66%

15-year Mortage Rate below 3 percent

Freddie Mac delivered fantastic news for prospective homebuyers and mortgage refinancers as average fixed mortgage rates continue to decline. The agency's weekly survey showed that the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.66 percent, down from 3.73 percent last week and 4.41 percent a year ago. That puts the average rate on par with its level in mid-May 2013.

Average rates on a 15-year mortgage also slid this week, to 2.98 percent from 3.05 percent last week and 3.45 percent a year ago. It was the first time since May 30, 2013, that the interest rate on that loan product fell below 3 percent.

"Mortgage rates fell for the third consecutive week as oil prices plummeted and long-term Treasury yields continued to drop despite a strong employment report," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.

On Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the volume of mortgage applications for the week ended Jan. 9 increased 49 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. Applications for mortgage refinancings rose 66 percent from the previous week, to the highest level seen since July 2013.  * Reported by The Miami Herald

Call me now to schedule a complete presentation of any project in Miami. For Reservation please contact me at 954.254.6085 or email me at JuanSolerRealtor@gmail.comTime is always of the essence but much more in Pre-construction. Don't miss this window of Opportunity!

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Miami Beach Ritz-Carlton Residences 50% Sold

Miami Real Estate Developments continue to sell at a reasonable good pace in all the different ranges of prices. Lionheart Capital said Monday that the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach has reached its 50 percent sold milestone. The luxury residential development at 4701 North Meridian Avenue, on the site of the former Miami Heart Institute, will have 111 residences and 15 stand-alone villas. With prices from $2 million to $40 million, the development launched sales in spring 2014.  Now 50 percent of the units have contracts and deposits. Ophir Sternberg, CEO and founding partner of Lionheart Capital, the building’s developer stated that “Residents can expect to enjoy an exclusive amenity collection coupled with the premier service that comes with the iconic brand.” Amenities will include private spa treatment suites, steam rooms and a sauna, a meditation garden, indoor and outdoor yoga studios, an on-site captained day yacht, private boat dockages and a state-of-the-art fitness center. Residences will have two attended lobbies with 24-hour personalized concierge services, valet parking, a pet salon suite, a BBQ and dining area, a library/conference room, a roof-top pool and art and music rooms. Premier Sales Group and One Sotheby’s International Realty are the exclusive sales agents for the property. The development, on seven acres on the shores of Surprise Lake, is designed by Italian architect Piero Lissoni.  The mid-rise residential development represents Lissoni’s first full-scale architectural work in the United States, and is being completed with Miami architecture firm ADD. A penthouse in the upcoming project was sold to a “bachelor from Europe” for a whopping $32 million in October 2014. — Ina Cordle * The Real Deal

Call me now to schedule a complete presentation of any project in Miami. For Reservation please contact me at 954.254.6085 or email me at JuanSolerRealtor@gmail.comTime is always of the essence but much more in Pre-construction. Don't miss this window of Opportunity!

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30-Year Mortgage Rates Plunge to 3.73%

15-Year Mortage Rates Average 3.05%

Without a doubt this may be one of the best opportunities to buy a house since Mortgage Rates are almost 3% for a 15-year fixed home loan. Below you can read the article published by The Miami Herald with this encouraging news especially for first time buyers.

Worries about economic troubles in Europe and Asia have sent mortgage rates plunging to a 20-month low, with Freddie Mac saying the average rate for a 30-year conventional loan fell to 3.73 percent early this week from 3.87 percent a week earlier.

The average rate for 15-year fixed home loans, popular with refinancers seeking to retire their housing debt, averaged 3.05 percent, down from 3.15 percent last week.

The starting rates on adjustable mortgages were slightly lower as well, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

The rates, a boon to consumers seeking to buy homes or refinance mortgages, have arrived amid positive indicators on the domestic economy, including declining requests for unemployment benefits, rising consumer confidence and increases in wages.

That strength contrasts with a European economy so fragile that the European Central Bank is expected later this month to launch a bond-buying program similar to the stimulus the Federal Reserve employed here as an extraordinary reaction to the Great Recession.

With once-booming emerging economies from Brazil to China now slowing as well, spooked investors around the world are seeking the haven of ultra-safe government bonds.

The effective annual interest rate on 10-year securities issued by Germany and Japan has fallen well below 1 percent, and the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes dropped below 2 percent last week for the first time in three months.

The yield on securities issued by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which package about 60 percent of all U.S. mortgages to back the bonds, tend to follow the trend set by Treasuries.

With bond investors accepting lower yields on these securities and on the Ginnie Mae bonds backed by Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration home loans, mortgage bankers can lower the rates charged to consumers.

"As has been the case, global uncertainty continues to be the friend of the American homebuyer and homeowner," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com, a research firm that also tracks mortgage rates.

Freddie Mac asks lenders early each week about the terms they are offering on popular types of home loans. It said this week's 3.73 percent average for the 30-year fixed mortgage was the lowest since May 23, 2013, when the average was 3.59 percent.

The rates in this week's survey assumed borrowers paid about half of 1 percent of the loan amount in upfront lender fees and discount points.

Payments for such services as appraisals and title insurance are not included. Eurozone faces dangers of deflation as prices fall. The survey provides a consistent gauge of mortgage trends, but actual rates adjust constantly and are influenced by many factors. In addition to borrowers' credit histories and debt loads, the factors include whether borrowers opt for zero-cost loans at higher rates or pay extra to lenders initially to lower the rates. * The Miami Herald 

Call me now to schedule a complete presentation of any project in Miami. For Reservation please contact me at 954.254.6085 or email me at JuanSolerRealtor@gmail.comTime is always of the essence but much more in Pre-construction. Don't miss this window of Opportunity!

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5,400 New Condo Units To be Completed in 2015 in Miami Dade

Developers have scheduled 6,400 Condo units east of I-95 to be completed during this year in Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties The new condo projects scheduled to be delivered in 2015 are a fivefold increase from the 20 towers with less than 1,200 units that have been completed in the same region since the current real estate cycle began in 2011 according to what Peter Zalewski wrote in the Miami Herald. More than 50 new condo towers with nearly 5,400 units are scheduled to be completed in Miami-Dade in 2015. [Miami Herald] — Ina Cordle  * The Real Deal.

Call me now to schedule a complete presentation of any project in Miami. For Reservation please contact me at 954.254.6085 or email me at JuanSolerRealtor@gmail.comTime is always of the essence but much more in Pre-construction. Don't miss this window of Opportunity!

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Brickell City Center Tops Off 1st Tower

The new face of Brickell continues to emerge as the Brickell City Centre refashions the landscape of the city. Brickell City Centre’s developers celebrated the topping off of its 40-story East Hotel tower with speeches, ribbons tied to a palm tree and a pig roast luncheon for 700 hungry construction workers on Monday. Swire Properties, which developed condo projects on Brickell Key between the ’80s and 2008, is scheduled to complete the first phase of its $1.05 billion Brickell City Centre project by Dec. 2015. It broke ground in June 2012. In addition to East, a 263-room hotel with 89 apartments, the first phase includes 565,000 square feet of high-end retail, two Class A office buildings, and a pair of 43-story luxury condos (named Rise and Reach) with 780 residences. Brian Williams, managing director of Swire Hotels, said he wished his projects in China could be completed as quickly as Brickell City Centre was progressing. “Last week, I was in Chengdu in Southwest China and if it wasn’t so polluted we could see the Himalayas,” he said in his speech. “…We had a 100 percent record of total failure to meet any deadline that had been set. And I remember standing there, thinking, I wish I had some American-style, Miami-style contractors and construction managers because you guys have done a fantastic job.” Finishing on-time will also help the project’s bottom line. “Costs have gone up dramatically,” Swire president Stephen Owens told The Real Deal. 

He said he’s heard from other developers that construction costs alone have gone up 25 to 30 percent in the last 18 months. “We suspect that the projects that are coming behind us will have a greater problem [with construction costs] than we have,” Owens said. “But that’s the reality of the dynamic of the growth that Miami is experiencing now…It’s a challenge for the developers because the costs are coming in much higher than anticipated.” Owens noted that the area near Brickell City Centre’s has come a long way since 2011. Back then, future developments were limited to the Genting Group’s Resorts World Miami by the Miami Herald building and Miami Worldcenter near Overtown. Now there are 11 separate condo projects, totaling 5000 units, under construction and within walking distance of the project. Owens said that traffic won’t get worse once the development is complete because of the direct access to the Metromover. “Brickell City Centre was designed to introduce no net new traffic to Brickell Avenue,” he said. * The Real Deal.

Call me now to schedule a complete presentation of any project in Miami. For Reservation please contact me at 954.254.6085 or email me at JuanSolerRealtor@gmail.comTime is always of the essence but much more in Pre-construction. Don't miss this window of Opportunity!

 To Buy, Sell or Rent Properties in Miami go to http://www.JuanSolerRealtor.com