Current Mortgage Rates Finish the Week Slightly Lower

As anticipated, mortgage rates stayed in a fairly tight range this week. There was some action on Wednesday, but the markets recovered and mortgage rates moved into the weekend close to where they were on Monday. Read on for more details.

Where are mortgage rates going?                                

Rates finish a touch lower

At the start of the week, it seemed as though mortgage rates would remain in the narrow range that they’ve been in for the couple of months. That projection bore itself out as current mortgage rates are only a couple basis points below where they were on Monday.

We did get a significant reaction in the bond market on Wednesday, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note having its biggest single day drop in a month.

Still, it was only a decline of 5.5 basis points, which underscores the notion that there hasn’t been many big swings as of late. Mortgage rates typically follow in the footsteps of the 10-year yield, which is why we saw rates move lower.

Also of note this week was the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). It showed that current mortgage rates moved lower for fourth time in the last five weeks. Here are the numbers:

• The average rate on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell two basis points to 4.55% (0.5 points)
• The average rate on the 15-year fixed rate mortgage remained flat at 4.04% (0.5)
• The average rate on the 5-year adjustable rate mortgage rose four basis points to 3.87% (0.3)

Here is what the Freddie Mac Economic and Housing Research Group had to say about mortgage rates this week:

“Mortgage rates declined over the past week and have now retreated in four of the past five weeks.

The decrease in borrowing costs are a nice slice of relief for prospective buyers looking to get into the market this summer. Some are undoubtedly feeling the affordability hit from swift price appreciation and mortgage rates that are still 67 basis points higher than this week a year ago.

As highlighted in our June Forecast, the economy and housing market overall are on solid footing this summer, which should support continued strength in housing demand. Home price growth is still high, but is expected to moderate, and while sales activity has slowed, it’s primarily because of stubbornly low supply.”

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Rate/Float Recommendation              

Lock before rates rise           

Mortgage rates have remained in this close range for the past couple of months, and could stay here for a little while longer. However, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise the nation’s benchmark interest rates at least two more times this year, so it’s extremely likely that we will see mortgage rates finishing out the year at levels much higher than they are right now.

Given this expectation, we believe that the smart decision for most borrowers is to lock in a rate on a purchase or refinance sooner rather than later.

Learn what you can do to get the best interest rate possible.  

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Notable events this week:     

Monday:   

• Chicago Fed National Activity Index
• New Home Sales
• Dallas Fed Mfg Survey

Tuesday:   

• S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
• Consumer Confidence
• Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index
• State Street Investor Confidence Index
• Fedspeak

Wednesday:         

• Durable Goods Orders
• International Trade in Goods
• Pending Home Sales Index
• EIA Petroleum Status Report
• Fedspeak

Thursday:     

• GDP
• Jobless Claims
• Fedspeak

Friday:          

• Personal Income and Outlays
• Chicago PMI
• Consumer Sentiment

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from Total Mortgage Blog https://ift.tt/2KDAQDG