Fixed-mortgage rates reversed coursed and moved higher for the first time in six weeks amid April’s better than expected employment report, Freddie Mac said in a report Thursday.
The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage came in at 3.42%, up from 3.35% last week, but down from 3.83% last year, Freddie noted in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 15-year, FRM increased to 2.61%, up from 3.35%, while falling from 2.05% last year.
Meanwhile, the 5-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.58%, up from 2.56% last week and down from 2.81% a year ago.
Additionally, the 1-year Treasury-index ARM dropped to 2.53% this week, compared to 2.56% last week and was also down from 2.73% a year earlier.
“Fixed mortgage rates edged up following a solid employment report for April. The economy gained 165,000 new jobs on net last month, more than the market consensus forecast and the largest monthly increase this year,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac.
He added, “On top of that, revisions added 114,000 more jobs to February and March as well. All of these factors allowed the unemployment rate to fall to 7.5% in April, the lowest since December 2008.”
Bankrate data also shows mortgage rates moving higher.
Bankrate’s 30-year, FRM rose to 3.6% from 3.52% a week earlier.
In addition, the 15-year, FRM increased to 2.82%, up from 2.75% last week, while the 5/1 ARM rose to 2.64% from 2.63%.
