Mortgage Rates Slide: Freddie Mac
ThinkstockWeak reports on U.S. employment sent mortgage rates sliding for a second consecutive week, according to a report today from Freddie Mac. The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.43% in the week ending today. In the…
Weak reports on U.S. employment sent mortgage rates sliding for a second consecutive week, according to a report today from Freddie Mac. The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.43% in the week ending today.
In the prior week, the 30-year rate came in at 3.54% and in the same period a year ago the rate was 3.88%.
Freddie Mac’s chief economist said:
Mortgage rates fell further this week following a lackluster employment report for March. The economy added just 88,000 net new jobs last month, about one-third as many as February and the fewest since June 2012. In addition, approximately 496,000 people left the workforce causing the unemployment rate to fall to 7.6 percent. Further, average hourly earnings were unchanged in March, indicating income growth remains tepid.
The interest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 2.65% from 2.74% in the prior week. In the same period a year ago the interest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.11%.
Interest rates remain near a 65-year low.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.