Mortgage Rates Perk Up, But Continue to Remain Under 4%: Freddie

Average fixed mortgage rates perked up the week ending Oct. 15, but remained under the 4% level for the 12th consecutive week.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose 1.6% week-over-week to 3.82% from 3.76%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. This marked a 3.8% decrease since the 3.97% recorded at the same time last year.

Meanwhile, 15-year FRMs saw a comparable, 1.3% increase from the previous week, from 2.99% to 3.03%, and a 4.7% drop from the same period last year, when it stood at 3.18%

The average rate on the five-year hybrid adjustable loan remained at 2.88% but registered a 1.4% drop from the previous year’s 2.92%.

And the one-year ARM saw a slight week-to-week decrease of one basis point to 2.54% from 2.55%, but this represented a 6.7% increase from 2014, when it stood at 2.38%.

"As the shock of the weak September employment report wore off, Treasury rates drifted higher,” acknowledged the government-sponsored enterprise’s chief economist Sean Becketti in a Thursday news release. But he added, “Late-breaking news suggests mortgage rates may remain in this territory a while longer.”

Becketti pointed to recent comments from Federal Reserve Board Gov. Daniel Tarullo’s suggesting that short-term interest rate hikes might be pushed back to the end of the year. Compounded with weak consumer demand, as indicated by a drop of 10-year Treasury yields to below-2% levels Wednesday, this would forecast stalling mortgage rates.