Current mortgage rates are hampering government efforts for economic recovery. Following a drop in mortgage rates early this spring, potential buyers have been pushed away by rising numbers. The Feds announcement in March to buy more than $1 trillion in mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac helped push down borrowing rates. Now with a rise in Treasury yields, these efforts are being scuttled.

Unless homeowners, authorities and mortgage lenders do something to stop foreclosures in Oregon the state's foreclosure filings will pass beyond the mark of every house out of 525 being up for foreclosures. Oregon has had one of the highest foreclosure filings in the country, rates jumping to 89.8 percent since May 2008.

Current mortgage rates are at their highest levels since December after the government's Treasury auction yesterday. Treasury yields have been climbing for weeks and went higher as investors demanded higher yields during the sale of $19 billion in the benchmark 10-year notes. Notes were sold at 3.99%, slightly higher than the forecast 3.975%.

After a spike in March, April, and early May, the number of home applications reported by banks has fallen to levels not seen since February. Continued efforts by the Federal Reserve to keep current mortgage rates down are proving insufficient. Today's mortgage rates, after spikes last week, are at the highest levels this calendar year. Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages ballooned to 5.45% last week.

With rising current mortgage rates, the speed of economic recovery is once again in question. Potential home-buyers faced a fourth straight week of rate hikes among 30 and 15-year fixed as well as 1 and 5-year ARMS. Up until them middle of May, the Feds had been successful at keeping a lid on mortgage rates, leading to a spike in applications nationwide.

Mortgage rates are still hovering near history low levels, while in some parts of the country there has been some rise in the mortgage rates as the housing market is showing some very early signs of stabilization. Some banks though, take aggressive marketing means to capitalize on the recovery. HSBC announced the re-introduction of its Rate Matcher Mortgage offering to match or beat existing mortgage rates as low as 2.49%.

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) estimates that one million new foreclosures have been filed so far in 2009. The news comes on the heels of the release of the first quarter 2009 National Delinquency Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) which reveals that 12 percent of all mortgages are now delinquent, the highest level in the 37 years the MBA has been measuring delinquency rates.

Foreclosures, REOs (Bank Owned Real Estate) and NODs (Notice of Defaults) were the headline news beginning in 2007 and for most of 2008. The number of foreclosures went through the roof, over extending housing supplies, creating blighted markets, and causing unheard of price reductions on existing and new housing inventory. Then in the first quarter 2009, things changed.

You know the recession is for real when rappers have been forced to cut back on their purchases of bling (or “bling bling” if you prefer.) According to the WSJ*, a brutal combination of a deepening recession coupled with plummeting music sales have forced aspiring hip-hop moguls to downsize from diamond encrusted baubles to faux-ice. Real home discounts may still be on the way.

Officials in Washington are looking to keep mortgage rates at affordable levels to help the ailing housing market. However, as Treasury notes being printed begin flooding the market, keeping rates down will be more of a challenge every week. As Treasury yields push higher there will be a tug on mortgage rates to follow suit.

According to Real Estate Professionals and most of the major indices, the beleaguered housing market has finally hit the bottom or is only weeks away from being at the bottom of the market.

The aftermath of the financial crisis is that it torpedoed home values, sent mammoth financial institutions into the poor house, and drove unemployment numbers toward the double digits. The government, for its part, has taken increasingly drastic steps to put the real estate market right again, to mixed effect. From rock bottom interest rates to massive loan modification programs to tax credits to entice first time homebuyers, we’ve seen a lot of effort from Uncle Sam.