As the market heads into the spring homebuying season, mortgage rates moved down slightly, according to the latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.34% for the week ended April 10, down from 4.41% last week, and significantly up from 3.43% a year prior.
The 15-year, FRM dropped to 3.38% from 3.47%, and is up from 2.65% in 2013.
Meanwhile, the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage came in at 3.09 this week, a decline from 3.12% a week ago, but up from 2.62% last year.
The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.41% for the week, falling from 2.45% last week and 2.62% a year prior.
“Mortgage rates eased a bit following the decline in 10-year Treasury yields. Also, the economy added 192,000 jobs in March, which was below the market consensus forecast but followed an upward revision of 22,000 jobs in February. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady at 6.7 percent,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist with Freddie Mac.
Bankrate also reported that mortgage rates erased the increases seen over the past two weeks, as the 30-year, FRM dipped to 4.47% from 4.54% last week.
In addition, the 15-year, FRM decreased to 3.52%, compared to 3.58% a week ago, while the 5/1 ARM remained unchanged at 3.34%.
"Any time there is stock market volatility and investors get nervous, that tends to be good news for mortgage rates. As investors gravitate to bonds of various types, including those backed by mortgages, it helps bring the rates that are quoted to mortgage borrowers lower. Mortgage rates are closely related to yields on long-term government bonds,” Bankrate said.
