30-Year Rates Stay Below 4%, Affordability High

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30-Year Rates Stay Below 4%, Affordability High

Article by: Daily Real Estate News; March 16, 2012

30-Year Rates Stay Below 4%, Affordability High

Mortgage rates are staying low by historical standards, despite inching slightly higher this week following a positive job report and increasing bond yields, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.

“An upbeat employment report for February caused U.S. Treasury bond yields to increase over the week, and mortgage rates followed,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Job growth over the last six months was the strongest since 2006.”

For 15 consecutive weeks, 30-year rates, the most popular choice among home buyers, have averaged below 4 percent.

The following is a closer look at rates for the week ending March 15:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.92 percent, with an average 0.8 point, inching up from last week’s 3.88 percent average (which was only 0.01 percent above an all-time record low). A year ago at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.76 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.16 percent, with an average 0.8 point, climbing from last week’s record reaching 3.13 percent average. Last year at this time, 15-year rates averaged 3.97 percent.
• 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.83 percent, with an average 0.8 point, also slightly up from last week’s 2.81 percent average. Last year, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.57 percent at this time of year.
• 1-year ARMs: averaged 2.79 percent, with an average 0.6 point, rising from last week’s 2.73 percent average. Last year, 1-year ARMs averaged 3.17 percent.

Source: Freddie Mac; Daily Real Estate News (March 16, 2012) | Blog distribution provided by Kenneth Bargers and Bargers Solutions, a proud member of Pilkerton Realtors, residential real estate services located in Nashville, Tennessee