Low rates and growing demands could mean higher home sales for the rest of the year, expert says
Mortgage rates went back down again last week after a few weeks of increases, according to Freddie Mac.
The GSE’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed that rates came close to a near three-year low. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) for the week ending July 25 dropped to 3.75% with an average 0.5 point, down from the previous week’s 3.81% and last year’s 4.54%.
“Mortgage rates continued to hover near three-year lows and purchase application demand has responded, rising steadily over the last two months to the highest year-over-year change since the fall of 2017,” said Sam Khater, chief economist of Freddie Mac.
The 15-year FRM also fell from the week prior, when it averaged 3.23%, to 3.18% with an average 0.5 point. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM was 4.02%.
Lastly, the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) declined from 3.48% the week before to 3.47% with an average 0.4 point. The five-year ARM averaged 3.87% last year.
“While the improvement has yet to impact home sales, there’s a clear firming of purchase demand that should translate into higher home sales in the second half of this year,” Khater said.
