Guys, quiet down, come on, I can barely write this over all the applause I’m getting right now. I appreciate the applause, but you have to understand I’m not the one that controls the mortgage rates. I know because you read the Primary Mortgage Monthly Survey every week and you see me as some shadowy, powerful figure that is the proverbial man behind the curtain in charge of rates. That just isn’t true! I would take all the praise for mortgage rates dropping for the second week in a row, and having them inch closer to a 65-year record-breaking low, but it’s all done by powers greater than you or I. I mean, I like to think of myself as a pretty capable guy, but I certainly can’t make fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages drop in the same week! I’m not Batman; I don’t even think Batman has the resources to change the housing market. Maybe Aquaman if he flooded the Earth. I’m rambling, but the point is that we’ve had two weeks in a row of great mortgage news. Here are the numbers, provided by Freddie Mac:
30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRM) averaged 3.43 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week. Last week it averaged 3.54 percent, and a year ago at this time it averaged 3.88 percent.
15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 2.65 percent with an average 0.7 for the week. Last week it averaged 2.74, and a year ago at this time it averaged 3.11 percent.
5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.62 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week. Last week it averaged 2.65 percent, and a year ago at this time it averaged 2.85 percent.
1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.62 percent with an average 0.3 point for the week. Last week it averaged 2.63 percent, and last year at this time it averaged 2.80 percent.
Again, mortgage rates saw a slight drop at minimum this week, and again, I can’t take credit for this. I’m just the messenger, a mere cog in the massive machine of the PMMS report. A much bigger player is Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac. Here’s his analysis on mortgage rates dropping for the second straight week.
“Mortgage rates fell further this week following a lackluster employment report for March. The economy added just 88,000 net new jobs last month, about one-third as many as February and the fewest since June 2012. In addition, approximately 496,000 people left the workforce causing the unemployment rate to fall to 7.6 percent. Further, average hourly earnings were unchanged in March, indicating income growth remains tepid.”
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