Freddie Mac releases latest market survey
Although US Treasury yields have edged higher this week, mortgage rates barely moved amid the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the delta variant.
“The tug-of-war between the economic recovery and rising COVID-19 cases has left mortgage rates moving sideways over the last few weeks,” said Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater.
According to data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage inched up from last week’s average of 2.86% to 2.87% for the week ending August 26. At this time in 2020, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.91%.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also rose one basis point to 2.17% week over week. It was 2.46% a year ago. Meanwhile, the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage dropped slightly from last week’s 2.43% to 2.42% and was down from 2.91% a year ago.
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“Overall, rates continue to be low, with a window of opportunity for those who did not refinance under 3%,” Khater said. “From a homebuyer perspective, purchase application demand is improving, but the major obstacle to higher home sales remains very low inventory for consumers to purchase.”
