Mortgage rates held their ground, according to the latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
According to the survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained unchanged from last week, averaging 4.81% for the week ending Nov. 29, 2018. Once again, this is still an increase from last year’s rate of 3.9%.
“Mortgage rates stabilized the last couple of months as interest rate sensitive sectors such as new auto and home sales have clearly softened the outlook for the economy,” Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said. “Homebuyers pounced on the stability in rates as purchase mortgage applications increased, which indicates that despite higher mortgage rates this year there are buyers on the fence waiting for the right time to buy.”
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The 15-year FRM averaged 4.25% this week, crawling forward from last week's 4.24%. This time last year, the 15-year FRM was 3.30%.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 4.12%, rising from 4.09% the week before. Notably, it remains much higher than this time last year when it averaged 3.32%.
