30-year fixed mortgages dip below 5% again
Average interest rates for traditional 30-year fixed mortgages have fallen below 5% again, Freddie Mac said Thursday.
The giant mortgage buyer’s weekly survey, conducted Monday through Wednesday, pegs the average rate nationally at 4.97%, with 0.7% of the loan balance on average paid in upfront charges, or points.
Last week, 30-year rates averaged 5.01%. That continues a trend so far this year in which the average has come in either just above or just below 5%.
The survey asks 125 lenders across the country the rates they are offering to borrowers with good credit and a 20% down payment or at least 20% equity for those refinancing their home loans.
The approaching end of Federal Reserve purchases of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage bonds is expected to result in rate increases later this year. The Mortgage Bankers Assn. estimates the typical interest rate might rise by half a percentage point.
If the average 30-year fixed rate rose half a point to 5.5%, that would still be unusually low by historical standards.
Nonetheless, such an increase would make home purchases more expensive and could put an end to a continuing mini-boom in refinancings, which have accounted for about two-thirds of home loan applications this year.
In other findings from the latest Freddie Mac survey:
* Last year at this time, 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 5.16%.
* Fifteen-year fixed home loans this week averaged 4.34% (with 0.6% of the loan amount in upfront fees), down from 4.4% last week. A year ago, 15-year loans averaged 4.81%.
* Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.19% this week, with 0.6% in points, down from 4.27% last week and 5.23% a year ago. The rate on this type of loan is fixed for five years before becoming variable.
* One-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.33%, up from 4.22% last week but well below an average 4.94% a year ago. The rate on these loans adjusts annually.
