Mortgage Rates Drop All Across the Board

This week perhaps marks the beginning of another free fall as mortgage rates slipped again across the board according to the weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey from Freddie Mac.

Well folks, it looks like last week was just a blip on the radar for mortgage rates.

If you remember correctly, mortgage rates took an unexpected jump last week to halt the eight-week free fall that saw record low averages being set every single week.

This week perhaps marks the beginning of another free fall as mortgage rates slipped again across the board according to the weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey from Freddie Mac.

Usually, I encourage all of the readers out there who are looking  to lock into a new mortgage or refinance not to wait at the end of my post, but given the brief increase in mortgage rates from last week, I think now is a good time.

STOP WAITING AND START PARTICIPATING or something like that. But seriously, now is the time.

Let’s take a look at the numbers.
30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell from last week’s 3.71% with 0.7 points to 3.66% with 0.7 points this week, setting a new record low. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have averaged below 4.00% every week in the year 2012, except for one (damn you March 22, 2012). Last year at this time, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.50%.

15-year fixed-rate mortgages also fell slightly, dropping to 2.95% with 0.6 points this week from last week’s 2.98% with 0.7 points. This marks the fourth week in a row that 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged below 3.00%, which used to be the stuff of fiction. A year ago at this time, 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.69%.

5/1-year ARMs took a dip from last week’s 2.80% with 0.6 points to 2.77% with 0.6 points this week, while 1-year ARMs dropped to 2.74% with 0.5 this week from last week’s 2.78% with 0.5 points.

Last year at this time, 5/1-year Arms and 1-year ARMs averaged 3.25% and 2.99%, respectively.

Now the best part of my Thursday, a message from Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist from Freddie Mac, from “Nothaft’s Nook” (you like that, Frank? You can call me up for trademarking purposes).

He explained, “Treasury bond yields eased somewhat this week on some worsening economic indicators bringing mortgage rates back into record low territory. Industrial production fell in two of the last three months ending in May, and below the expected market consensus forecast. In addition, consumer sentiment fell in June to its lowest level this year, according to the University of Michigan survey. In its June 20^th monetary policy announcement, the Federal Reserve also noted growth in employment has slowed in recent months and household spending appears to be rising at a somewhat slower pace.”

We even got a bonus quote from Frank this week, as he continued, “However, there were also some positive indicators on the housing market. Construction on one-family homes rose for the third consecutive month in May to an annualized pace of 516,000. Furthermore, homebuilder confidence rose in June to its highest reading in over four years.”

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