The average mortgage rate for the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage ticked up for the first time since May, climbing back over 3 percent to 3.01 percent, according to the weekly survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac.
“While housing demand continues to rebound, the month-long swoon in economic activity has caused the 10-year Treasury benchmark to drop,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement. “In the short-term, this means the demand will continue on the back of near record-low mortgage rates.”
“However, the most recent consumer spending data has been pointing to slow growth since mid-June,” Khater added. “The concern is that the pause in economic activity will cause unemployment to remain elevated which will lead to longer-term labor market distress.”
Mortgage rate trends. | Credit: Freddie Mac
The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.54 percent, up slightly from last week’s 2.48 percent average and down from last year’s 3.18 percent average. The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.09 percent, up slightly from last week’s 3.06 percent average and down from last year’s 3.47 percent average.
Despite the increase, mortgage rates continue to be at historic lows, which has led to a surge in demand in both the new purchase and refinance sector.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s market composite index — which is a measure of total mortgage loan application volume — jumped 4.1 percent from the week prior, according to data released Wednesday.
The refinance index increased 5 percent from the previous week and was up 122 percent year over year. The seasonally-adjusted purchase index was up 2 percent week over week. The unadjusted purchase index was up 2 percent week over week and was 19 percent higher than the same week last year.
