Interest Only Mortgage Loan Rates

The National Association of Realtors announced today that total existing-home sales - including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops - slipped 2.0 percent in April in a month-over-month comparison to March. Sales were also 5.7 percent below existing home sales of April 2005.

"From a housing standpoint, gauging the industry's health is more about looking at what the 12-month trend is telling us. A growing economy, healthy job market and long-term interest rates that are still quite low will make for robust home sales in 2006," says Bob Walters, chief economist of Loans, the nation's largest online retail mortgage lender. "The more far-reaching impact of today's report will be how the market interprets what it's saying about the economy, and how it affects the Fed's decision whether to pause its two-year campaign of interest rate hikes." Loans closed $16 billion in home loans in 2005 through Loans.com.