Arlington has lowest jobless rate in Washington region The lowest unemployment rate in the Washington region continues to be in Arlington County, with a jobless rate of just 3.9 percent in September.
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that every county in the region, with the exception of the District, registered a lower unemployment rate in September than the national average of 9.2 percent.
D.C.’s 9.5 percent unemployment rate is the region’s highest, followed by Fredericksburg at 8.4 percent and Prince George’s County at 7.4 percent.
After Arlington, the lowest unemployment rates are in Loudoun County and Alexandria, each with a jobless rate of 4.5 percent, followed closely by Fairfax County at 4.6 percent.
Fifteen of the 22 counties in the Washington region had lower unemployment rates than a year ago, but all counties have higher unemployment rates than two years ago.
Freddie Mac raises mortgage fees
Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance company under U.S. control, will boost fees it charges lenders selling riskier home loans.
The changes, which take effect March 1, will raise some of the upfront fees by as much as 0.75 percent of the loan balance and add costs for consumers who use additional home loans as part of their borrowing, the McLean company announced Monday in a memo posted on its Web site.
Lenders could offset an upfront fee of 0.25 percent by raising the interest rate on a 30-year mortgage by 0.05 percentage point, which would increase payments on a $200,000 loan by about $10 per month, the company said.
The new fees include a 0.25 percent charge for borrowers with credit scores of more than 740 and loan-to-value ratios of greater than 75 percent, according to the memo. Charges for borrowers with scores below 660 will rise to as much as 3.25 percent. — Bloomberg
