Would Lower Market Rates Pump Up Sales?
Will mortgage rates ever drop to 0 percent?

Zero percent financing has long been a loss leader in the automotive industry, but Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH Associates, a provider of mortgage information, says that scenario is unlikely. You’d have to find an investor who would buy a security with a zero return – a hard sell even today.

Jim Sahnger, mortgage associate Palm Beach Financial Network, concurs that the funding would be hard to find “unless there were significant fees on the front end to compensate for costs to originate, deliver, default, etc.”

If 0 percent financing could be funded, Sahnger believes potential borrowers would be lined up, kicking up demand for houses.

Gumbinger isn’t so sure because buying a home is a bet on the economy and that kind of confidence is hard to find, he says. “People are concerned that tomorrow is not going to be better than today.”

Source: MarketWatch.com, Amy Hoak (09/27/2010)