Fixed mortgage rates moved modestly lower over the past week, and a further descension could be ahead during the upcoming seven days.
Thirty-year fixed rates on conforming, conventional loans used to finance a single-family property purchase worked out to an average of 4.36 percent in February.
Long-term mortgage rates jumped from the previous month, when the average was 4.19 percent. But still, the 30 year was 5 basis points lower than the same month last year.
A small survey of primary home lenders conducted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency was the source of the monthly averages.
This past week, 30-year fixed rates averaged 4.44 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. The average dipped a single basis point from the week ended March 22. But rates have soared 30 BPS from the same seven days in 2017.
Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer noted in the report that rates eased as there was a flight to quality and investors moved into safer assets amid increased trade tensions.
Fixed rates might be roughly 6 BPS lower in Freddie’s survey next week based on a Treasury market analysis by Mortgage Daily.
One-third of panelists surveyed by Bankrate.com for the week March 14 to March 20 predicted mortgage rates won’t move more than 2 BPS over the next week, while another third expected a decline. Only 14 percent projected an increase.
In the U.S. Mortgage Market Index report from Mortgage Daily and OpenClose for the seven days that concluded on March 23, jumbo interest rates were 13 BPS higher than conforming rates reported last week by Freddie, more than the 9 BPS a week prior.
Freddie’s latest survey had 15-year fixed rates averaging 3.90 percent in the week ended March 29, 2018, 1 basis point less than last week. The spread between 15- and 30-year rates remained at 54 BPS.
Five-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.66 percent, Freddie reported, 2 BPS better than in the preceding seven-day period.
The hybrid ARM index, the yield on the one-year Treasury note, was reported by the Treasury Department at 2.09 percent as of today’s close, 4 BPS higher than seven days prior.
Some legacy ARMs adjust based on the London Interbank Offered Rate, which climbed to 2.45 percent yesterday from 2.41 percent last Wednesday, Bankrate.com reported.
ARM share slipped to 15.0 percent from 16.2 the prior week in the most-recent Mortgage Market Index report.
