There was little movement in rates on residential loans this past week, and more of the same is likely over the next week.
A one-basis-point increase from last week left 30-year fixed rates averaging
3.90 percent in Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended Sept. 10.
But fixed rates on 30-year mortgages have dropped compared to the same week last year, when the average came in at 4.12 percent.
“The employment report released last Friday provided mixed signals, adding one more note of uncertainty prior to the Fed’s September meeting,” Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sean Becketti said in the report.
MBSQuoteline Director Joe Farr indicated that there hasn’t been much movement since Freddie’s survey was conducted.
“MBS prices, and therefore mortgage rates, have seen very little net change over the last couple of weeks,” Farr said in a written statement. “This trend has continued so far this week, so the Freddie Mac rate is a good indication of Thursday’s rates.”
Mortgage Daily’s analysis of Treasury market activity indicates that fixed rates will likely be little changed, possibly slightly lower, in the next survey from Freddie.
But over at Bankrate.com, an increase of at least three BPS was predicted by three-quarters of the panelists surveyed for the week Sept. 10 to Sept. 16. Just a quarter projected no change, and none of the panelists expected a decline.
Jumbo mortgage rates were 20 BPS less than conforming rates in the U.S. Mortgage Market Index report from OpenClose and Mortgage Daily for the week ended Sept. 4. The jumbo-conforming spread thinned from a negative 28 BPS the previous week.
Fifteen-year fixed rates averaged
3.10 percent in Freddie’s most-recent survey, one basis point more than in the week ended Sept. 3. The spread between 15- and 30-year fixed rates was unchanged from a week earlier at 80 BPS.
Freddie reported that five-year, Treasury-indexed, hybrid, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.91 percent, down two BPS from the last report.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs moved up a single basis point from seven days earlier to 2.63 percent, Freddie said. That was 18 BPS higher than in the week ended Sept. 11, 2014.
At 0.39 percent as of Thursday, the yield on the one-year Treasury note — which is used to determine rate changes on one-year ARMs — was up three BPS from a week prior, according to data published by the Department of the Treasury.
The six-month London Interbank Offered Rate, which is used as an index on a small share of ARMs, was 0.54 percent as of Wednesday, Bankrate.com reported. LIBOR didn’t change from one week prior.
The latest Mortgage Market Index report had ARM share at 10.8 percent, more narrow than 13.6 percent seven days earlier.
