This week, the average U.S. fixed rate for a 30-year mortgage inched forward to 3.65%. That’s 0.6 points above last week’s 3.64%, but more than a percentage point lower than the 4.71% of the year-earlier week, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
Despite this week’s slight uptick, Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist says the nation’s purchasing demand remains strong.
“While mortgage rates generally held steady this week, overall mortgage demand remained very strong, rising over 50% from a year ago thanks to increases in both refinance and purchase mortgage applications,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “As economic growth decelerates, it is clear that low mortgage rates will continue to support the mortgage market and we expect that to persist for the remainder of the year.”
The 15-year FRM averaged 3.14% this week, sliding from last week’s 3.16%. This time last year, the 15-year FRM came in at 4.15%.
The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.38%, holding steady from last week’s rate. Nonetheless, the percentage is still a notable decrease from 2018’s rate of 4.01%.
The image below highlights this week’s changes:
