With interest rates remaining flat, demand for mortgages is growing
The demand for purchase mortgage applications grew higher as interest rates remain flat, Freddie Mac revealed in its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The survey showed that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.08% last week, up from 4.06% the week before. However, it is much lower compared to 2018’s rate of 4.4%.
Purchase mortgage applications demand rose to their second highest weekly increase over the past year due to an upsurge in refi activity, according to Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater.
Overall, mortgage demand climbed to the highest level since the third quarter of 2016.
“While the housing market has faced many headwinds the last few months, it sailed through the turbulence to calmer seas with demand buttressed by a strong labor market and low mortgage rates,” said Khater. “The benefits of the decline in mortgage rates that we’ve seen this year will continue to unfold over the next few months due to the lag from changes in mortgage rates to market sentiment and ultimately home sales.”
Last week, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.56%, slightly inching up from 3.57% the week prior. The 15-year FRM was higher this time last year at 3.87%.
The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.66%, down from 3.75% from the last week of March. This rate was moderately higher than 2018’s average of 3.62%.
