Housing Market Heats Up, Mortgage Rates Fall
ThinkstockFreddie Mac released its weekly update on national mortgage rates on Thursday morning, showing modest declines in interest rates nearly across the board. Both 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) and 15-year FRMs got cheaper over the past week, with 30-year FRMs…
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Freddie Mac released its weekly update on national mortgage rates on Thursday morning, showing modest declines in interest rates nearly across the board.
Both 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) and 15-year FRMs got cheaper over the past week, with 30-year FRMs falling six basis points to land at 4.14% and 15-year FRMs dropping four b.p. to 3.25%. One year ago, 30-year FRMs cost 3.59% and 15-year FRMs averaged 2.77%.
Likewise, 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) declined in price, falling five basis points to 2.96%. One-year ARMs were unchanged at 2.43% for the third week in a row. A year ago, 5/1 ARMs were at 2.63% and 1-year ARMs at 2.55%.
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Freddie Mac Vice President and Chief Economist Frank Nothaft noted that housing starts were up 13% in April and applications for housing permits rose as well. Both numbers came in above expectations, Nothaft said in a statement. This would ordinarily tend to push mortgage rates up (greater demand for mortgages being expected to raise prices). But with industrial production slipping a gear in April, down 0.6%, homebuyers may still be looking askance at the economy and less willing to commit to a big purchase — depressing demand for mortgages.
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