Long-term fixed rates backed off record lows a bit in Freddie Mac’s closely watched weekly survey as short-term Treasury-indexed rates, which borrowers have had comparatively little interest in recently, fell slightly to record lows.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage during the week ending Oct. 21 inched up to 4.21% with an average 0.8 of a point from 4.19% a week ago but was down from 5% a year ago.
The average 15-year FRM rate during the week ending Oct. 21 was 3.64% with an average 0.7 of a point, up from 3.62% the previous week but down from 4.43% a year ago.
While ARM rates in contrast fell week-to-week, Freddie’s deputy chief economist Amy Crews Cutts told this publication that the government-sponsored enterprise’s monthly survey of mortgage bankers found just 5% of applications in August were for a loan with some form of adjustable rate, down slightly from 6% in July. However this is up somewhat from an ARM share as low as 2% in early 2009.
Among ARMs, five-year hybrids seem to have been most popular of late, primarily in the high-balance loan sector, the Freddie Mac deputy chief economist said.
The average rate for a one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage during the week ending Oct. 21 was 3.30% with an average 0.7 of a point, down from 3.43% the week previous and 4.54% a year ago.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury hybrid in the latest week was 3.45% with an average 0.6 of a point in the latest week, down from 3.47% the previous week and 4.40% a year ago.
Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said in his weekly rate report that mixed inflation signals drove the latest rate trends. Notably, the Producer Price Index quadrupled the market consensus when it jumped 0.4 between August and September while the Consumer Price Index dropped below consensus.
