Fixed-mortgage rates hovered near record lows this past week, amid weaker than expected first-quarter economic growth, according to Freddie Mac data.
The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage floated just above its all-time record low, coming in at 3.35%, down from 3.4% last week and 3.84% last year, the GSE said in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The 15-year, FRM reached a new record low of 2.56%, down from 2.61%, while falling from 3.07% last year.
Meanwhile, the 5-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 2.56%, down from 2.58% last week and down from 2.85% a year ago.
Additionally, the 1-year Treasury-index ARM dropped to 2.56% this week, compared to 2.62% last week and was also down from 2.7% a year earlier.
“Mortgage rates eased somewhat following the release of the advance estimate of real GDP growth for the first quarter of the year, which rose 2.5 percent but fell short of the market consensus forecast,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac.
He added, “The latest GDP report confirmed that the housing sector has become an important contributor to the economic recovery. Residential fixed investment added to overall economic growth over the past eight consecutive quarters and contributed more than 0.3 percentage points in growth over the first three months of this year. Moreover, near record low mortgage rates should further drive the housing market recovery over the near term.”
Bankrate data also shows mortgage rates hitting near record lows.
Bankrate’s 30-year, FRM dropped to 3.52% from 3.57% a week earlier.
In addition, the 15-year, FRM declined to 2.75% last week, while the 5/1 ARM dropped to 2.63% from 2.65%.
