Mortgage rates fell for the second consecutive week as it continues to recover from the market’s anxiety over potential trade wars, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
“After dropping earlier this week on trade-related anxiety in financial markets, the benchmark 10-year Treasury stabilized on Wednesday, but at a level slightly lower than from the start of last week,” said Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac deputy chief economist. “Mortgage rates followed and fell for the second consecutive week; the U.S. weekly average 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.4% in our survey this week.”
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(Source: Freddie Mac)
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage decreased to 4.4% for the week ending April 5, 2018. This is down from last week’s 4.44%, but still up from 4.1% last year.
The 15-year FRM decreased to 3.87% this week, down from 3.9% last week but up from last year’s 3.36%.
The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage decreased from 3.66% last week to 3.62% this week. But this is still up from last year’s rate of 3.19%.
“Though rates on the 30-year fixed mortgage are up 0.3 percentage points from the same week a year ago, a robust labor marking is helping home purchase demand weather modestly higher rates,” Kiefer said. “The Mortgage Bankers Association reported in their latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey that the Purchase Index was up 5% from a year ago indicating that this spring is on track for a modest expansion in purchase mortgage activity.”
