There was hardly any change in fixed mortgage rates over the past week, and more of the same could be ahead — though upcoming economic data could shatter that forecast.
In its Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended April 2, Freddie Mac reported that 30-year fixed rates averaged 3.70 percent.
Long-term mortgage rates crept up from a week earlier, when the 30 year averaged 3.69 percent. But they were a long way from the 4.41 percent average a year earlier.
The minimal movement was accompanied by a final estimate of growth in the gross domestic product that was unchanged from the previous estimate, according to Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer.
Little change is likely for fixed rates in Freddie’s next survey based on Mortgage Daily’s analysis of weekly Treasury market activity.
However, tomorrow’s U.S. employment report could significantly move rates. A reading of more than 175,000 jobs added in March could push rates higher, while fewer than 150,000 jobs added could put downward pressure on rates.
Panelists surveyed by Bankrate.com for the week April 2 to April 8 offered no direction for upcoming rates, with a third predicting an increase of at least 3 BPS, a third forecasting a decline and a third expecting no change at all.
Jumbo mortgage rates averaged 5 BPS more than conforming rates in the U.S. Mortgage Market Index report from LoanSifter-Optimal Blue and Mortgage Daily for the week ended March 27. The jumbo-conforming spread diminished from 7 BPS one week previous.
Like the 30 year, average 15-year rates moved up a single basis point in Freddie’s survey from the week ended March 26 to 2.98 percent. That left the spread between 15- and 30-year fixed rates at 72 BPS.
Freddie reported that five-year, Treasury-indexed, hybrid, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.92 percent, the same as in the previous report.
Also unchanged was the average one-year Treasury-indexed ARM, which was 2.46 percent in Freddie’s latest report. One-year ARMs were up, however, a basis point from the week ended April 3, 2014.
One-year ARM rates move with the yield on the one-year Treasury note, which slipped to 0.25 percent Thursday from 0.28 percent one week prior, according to Treasury Department data.
Another ARM index, the six-month London Interbank Offered Rate, was 0.40 percent as of Wednesday,
a basis point more than seven days prior, according to Bankrate.com.
ARM share slipped to 9.2 percent in the latest Mortgage Market Index report from 9.4 percent one week earlier.
