For the first time this year, fixed interest rates on residential loans turned lower. But the story was different for adjustable-rate mortgages.
During the seven-day period that concluded on March 15, thirty-year fixed rates averaged
4.44 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
Long-term rates retreated by 2 basis points from the preceding week — marking the first time this year that a week-over-week decline was recorded for the 30 year.
But 30-year rates remain 14 BPS higher than in the same-seven days last year.
No change in mortgage rates is expected over the
next week by 60 percent of the panelists surveyed by Bankrate.com for the week March 14 to March 20. The remaining 40 percent expected a decline of at least 3 BPS.
In the U.S. Mortgage Market Index report from Mortgage Daily and OpenClose for the week ended March 9, jumbo interest rates were 10 BPS more than conforming rates, the same as a week prior.
Freddie reported average 15-year fixed rates at 3.90 percent, falling 4 BPS from the week ended March 8, 2017.
At 54 BPS, the spread between 15- and 30-year rates widened from 52 BPS in the last report.
Five-year, Treasury-indexed, hybrid ARMs averaged 3.67 percent in Freddie’s survey, 4 BPS worse than in last week’s report.
Hybrid ARMs adjust based on the yield for the one-year Treasury note, which the Department of the Treasury reported at 2.07 percent as of Thursday, up 2 BPS from the preceding Thursday.
Another, more obscure, ARM index, the six-month London Interbank Offered Rate, was reported by Bankrate.com at 2.30 percent as of Wednesday, surging 6 BPS from seven days earlier.
ARM share in the latest Mortgage Market Index report was 16.7 percent, thinning from 19.4 percent the previous week.
