Average 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rates tracked by Freddie Mac remained the same during the week ending March 10 in a market where recent employment indicators have been mixed.
As of Thursday morning unemployment claims had come in higher than expected, putting downward pressure on the long-term rate-indicative 10-year bond yield. As of mid-morning this yield was near 3.43%, down from a high near 3.54% the day before. (In addition the Dow at the time of this writing was down nearly 200 points.)
But an earlier round of employment and unemployment data during the period tracked by Freddie’s mortgage rate report had come in better than expected, chief economist Frank Nothaft noted.
The 30-year mortgage rate during the week ending March 10 remained at 4.88% with 0.7 of a point and the 15-year stayed at 4.15 with 0.7 of a point. This was down somewhat from year-ago rates of 4.95% and 4.32%, respectively.
Shorter-term rates moved only slightly and were mixed during the most recent week. The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage inched up by a basis point to 3.73% with 0.6 of a point while the average one-year Treasury ARM rate slipped by just two basis points to 3.21% with 0.5 of a point.
Both five-year Treasury hybrid and one-year Treasury ARM rates remained below where they were a year ago when they were 4.05% and 4.22%, respectively.
