Home-loan rates hover near record lows this week: Freddie Mac
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Rates on fixed-rate mortgages averaged just above record lows this week, according to Freddie Mac’s latest survey of conforming rates.
Rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.88% for the week ending April 26, down from 3.9% last week and 4.78% a year ago, the survey released Thursday found.
The mortgage has averaged below 4% since the beginning of the year, with the exception of one week. The record low for the mortgage is 3.87%, set in February.
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.12%, of from 3.13% last week and down 3.97% a year ago.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.85%, up from 2.78% last week; the ARM averaged 3.51% a year ago. And 1-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 2.74%, down from 2.81% last week and 3.15% a year ago.
To obtain the rates, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage required payment of an average 0.7 point, while all other products required payment of an average 0.6 point. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.
Fixed rates “held near record lows this week as the markets waited for the Federal Reserve’s April 25 monetary-policy announcement following two days of deliberations,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, in a news release.
“The Fed stated that it expects economic growth to remain moderate and then pick up gradually. In addition, it noted that labor-market conditions have improved in recent months and it anticipates the unemployment rate will decline gradually,” he added. Read more on aftermath of FOMC meeting.
The nation’s housing market is also showing improvement, Nothaft said, pointing out that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s purchase-only house price index rose 0.3% in February, compared with January. And according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index, 12 out of 20 metropolitan areas saw price increases over the month, while new-home sales in March were stronger than expected, he said.
Read more: Sales of new homes drop 7.1% in March.
Read more: U.S. home prices fall to nearly decade low.
“However, the Fed’s statement warned that despite some signs of improvement, the housing sector still remains depressed,” Nothaft said.
Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago.
