The last time 30-year fixed rates were this low was in November of last year, and they aren’t likely to move much over the next week.
Thirty-year fixed rates averaged 4.21 percent in Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended May 8.
The last time 30-year rates were this low was in the week ended Nov. 7, 2013, when the average was 4.16 percent.
Last week, Freddie reported average 30-year rates at 4.29 percent, while the average was 3.42 percent a year earlier.
Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft attributed this week’s improvement to a “dismal” gross domestic product reading.
Another factor impacting rates this past week was a poor labor participation rate in last Friday’s monthly employment report.
Fixed rates won’t likely be much different in Freddie’s next report based on Treasury market activity.
The yield on 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for fixed mortgage rates, averaged 2.62 percent during the period that Freddie surveyed lenders this week, according to Treasury Department data. The 10-year yield closed Thursday at 2.61 percent.
Sixty percent of panelists surveyed by Bankrate.com for the week May 8 to May 14 predicted rates won’t move more than 2 BPS over the next week. The remaining 40 percent were evenly split about whether rates would rise or fall.
Jumbo interest rates were 1 basis point less than conforming rates in the U.S. Mortgage Market Index report from LoanSifter-Optimal Blue and Mortgage Daily for the week ended May 2. The jumbo-conforming spread swung from a positive 3 BPS in the previous report.
In Freddie’s weekly report, 15-year fixed rates averaged 3.32 percent, 6 basis points better than in the week ended May 1. The rate discount for 15-year mortgages dropped to 89 BPS from the 91-basis-point spread in the previous survey.
Freddie reported that five-year, Treasury-indexed, hybrid, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.05 percent, the same as a week earlier.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 2.43 percent in Freddie’s survey, 2 BPS better than in the previous report. The one year was less than the 2.53 percent average in place the week ended May 9, 2013.
The index for the one-year ARM, the yield on the one-year Treasury note, closed Thursday at 0.10 percent, the same as a week earlier, Treasury Department data indicate.
Another ARM index, the six-month London Interbank Offered Rate — or LIBOR — was 0.32 percent Wednesday, unchanged from seven days earlier, Bankrate.com reported.
ARMs made up 12.9 percent of all activity in the most recent Mortgage Market Index report, retreating from 13.1 percent in the previous report.
