Rates rebound to highest level since late June

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.54%

By Francis Monfort

30 Jul 2018

Mortgage rates rebounded to their highest level since late June after moving up slightly over the previous week’s rates, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by Freddie Mac for the week ending July 26.

The average rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.54%, with an average 0.5 point, up from the 4.52% average in the prior period. The latest average is an increase from the 3.92% average rate in the year-ago period.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.02%, with an average 0.4 point, up from 4%. A year ago at this time, the mortgage averaged 3.2%.

Rates for the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.87%, with an average 0.4 point, remaining unchanged from the previous survey. The 5-year ARM averaged 3.18% in the same week in 2017.

“The next few months will be key for gauging the health of the housing market,” Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater said. “Existing sales appear to have peaked, sales of newly built homes are slowing, and unsold inventory is rising for the first time in three years.”

“Meanwhile, affordability pressures are increasingly a concern in many markets, as the combination of continuous price gains and higher mortgage rates appear to be giving more prospective buyers a pause,” he added. “This is why new and existing-home sales are not breaking out this summer despite the healthy economy and labor market.”