30-Year Rates Stuck Near 4 Percent
Mortgage rates remained stuck this week, with interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages essentially unchanged for six weeks now.
Average interest rates on the standard 30-year home loan fell a hair, to 3.99 percent this past week, according to the weekly Freddie Mac rate survey. Thirty-year rates haven’t strayed outside the range of 3.98 percent to 4.00 percent since late October, according to Freddie Mac.
Meanwhile, 15-year fixed rate loans dropped to within a single basis point of their all-time lowest mortgage rates on record in the Freddie Mac survey, falling to 3.27 percent, down from 3.30 percent last week. The record low rate of 3.26 percent was reached the week of Oct. 6.
On adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), initial interest rates on Treasury indexed 5-year ARMs rose slightly to 2.93 percent, up from 2.90 percent last week. Rates cited include average origination fees and points of 0.7 points on the 30-year loans, 0.8 points on 15-year loans and 0.6 points on the ARM.
Low rates, home prices finally spurring consumer interest?
“Thirty-year fixed-rate loans have declined 0.62 percentage points from a year ago, and median sales prices on existing homes are off 4.7 percent in the year ending with October,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac chief economist. “These low rates and home prices have pushed housing affordability to record highs this year.”
Nothaft noted that home affordability, as measured by the National Association of Realtors, reached an all-time high in October, with monthly principal and interest payments on a median-priced home equal to only 12.6 percent of a median family income. He said that likely contributed to a recent increase in mortgage applications for home purchases to their highest point in nearly a year, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Average interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are currently down 0.62 percentage points from their level of one year ago this week, when they stood at 4.61 percent.
By: Peter King |
