Purchasing a home is currently the most affordable it has been for the past twenty years.

Thanks to a continuing fall in home prices and record low mortgage rates, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index has hit a record low level of affordability.

According to this index, 75.9% of all homes, both new and existing, sold during the three month period ended on Dec. 31 could have been purchased comfortably by families earning the national median income of $64,200.

Genworth Financial’ mortgage insurance division had begun to see a noticeable rise in HARP refinancing applications, a sign that the new '2.0' version of the program could finally be gaining popularity.

“Last week was our highest application week since the inception of the Home Affordable Refinancing Program,” a Genworth spokesman told National Mortgage News.

Last month, HARP refinancing applications inceased 37% on a sequential basis, and 55% from November.

In general, things have been looking up for commercial mortgage-backed securities, however, those considering investing in the space should be sure they understand the nuances involved as well as the big picture.

For example, CMBS loan loss severity fell below 40% for the first time in January since April of last year, according to Trepp. Along with this, the volume of CMBS conduit loans liquidated in January rose to the third highest total since Trepp first began tracking this data in January of 2010.

According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey®, average mortgage rates fell to new all-time record lows as data on economic growth fell short of what was projected. All products in the PMMS survey, except the 1-Year ARM, averaged new lows.

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) are an average of 3.87 percent with a median 0.8 point for the week ending February 2, 2012, decreasing from last week when it averaged 3.98 percent. At this same time a year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.81 percent.