Mortgage Rates Reverse Course, Rise; Double Back, and Start Falling Again

Trying to follow mortgage rates has rarely been so dizzying. Freddie Mac said Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.68 percent for the week ending January 31, up from an average of 5.48 percent one week earlier. Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARMs averaged 5.32 percent, up from 5.13 percent; a year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 6.04 percent. “Mortgage rates ended their four-week descent this week, with average rates on 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages coming up by about 0.2 percentage points,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. Freddie Mac said that the movement in fixed mortgage rates was “broadly consistent” with the movements of Treasury bonds over the week, although brokers corresponding with HW have noted that rates have been changing — often wildly — within a given day. Take today, for instance. One day after Freddie’s report, an unexpectedly horrible jobs report already has mortgage rates dipping again as bond yields fall.