COFI Hits Another Low

The Eleventh Federal Home Loan District Cost of Funds Index for October stood at 1.909%, a decline of over 1 basis point from September's 1.923%.This was the third consecutive month that the index has been below the 2% mark, and once again it is at an all-time low. In October 2002, the index stood at 2.708%. For comparative purposes, the monthly average commitment rate for the one-year adjustable-rate mortgage (as reported by the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey) was 3.74% in October. For the same month in 2002, it was 4.27%. COFI is a lagging indicator, and it usually reflects changes in the market that took place three to six months ago. The ARM rate, according to the Freddie Mac survey, bottomed at 3.52% in June, before rising to 3.86% in September.