The average rate for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage set a new record low and the average 30-year FRM rate slid a bit to a point not far from its bottom in Freddie Mac's closely watched primary market survey.
The 30-year FRM slipped two basis points from the previous week to 3.88% during the week ending March 8 while the 15-year FRM broke its previous record for a low by just one basis point at 3.13%. The 30-year was last at its record low of 3.87% during the week ending Feb. 16.
Average points, a measure that may not include some closing costs borrowers have to pay, remain higher for FRMs at 0.8 of a point. Hybrids and adjustable-rate mortgages tracked by Freddie Mac respectively averaged 0.7 of a point and 0.6 of a point.
However, the one-year Treasury-indexed ARM rate inched up a basis point in the latest week to 2.73%. The five-year Treasury hybrid rate, on the other hand, slid two basis points to 2.81%.
Compared to a year ago the average rate for a 30-year FRM is a full 1% lower and the 15-year rate is 1.02% lower. A year ago the five-year Treasury hybrid rate was 3.73% and the one-year Treasury ARM rate was 3.21%.
Recent historically low rates and income levels, in combination with declining home prices, bring affordability to a level a National Association of Realtors index indicates gave the “typical” family more than double the income needed to purchase a median priced home in January, Freddie Mac chief economist and vice president Frank Nothaft said in his weekly rate report.
While mortgage applications overall came in relatively lower in the Mortgage Bankers Association's most recent index, which dates back to the week ending March 2, within that total purchase applications have risen over the last two weeks, Nothaft noted. Recent historically favorable affordability levels, which by NAR's measure are the highest since its records began in 1970, likely contributed to that increase, he said.
