After floating in a just-below 3% range for months, mortgage rates headed higher for the past two weeks. The likely reason: Increased optimism and a drop in COVID cases.

MCLEAN, Va. – The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.14% this week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. For months, the average rate has hovered somewhere just below or above 3%, making the last two week’s larger-than-usual increases stand out.

However, even mortgage experts have difficult predicting future rate movements based on past performance.

“The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has been trending up due to the decline in new COVID cases,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. He says that’s due to “increasing consumer optimism, as well as broadening inflation and persistent shortages.”

The result is rising mortgage rates, but “purchase demand remains firm, showing that latent purchase demand exists among consumers.”

Average mortgage rates for the week of Oct. 28, 2021

  • The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.14% with an average 0.7 point for the week, up from last week’ 3.09%. A year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.81%.
  • The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.37% with an average 0.7 point, up from last week’s 2.33%. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.32%.
  • The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.56% with an average 0.3 point, up from last week’s 2.54%. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.88%.

© 2021 Florida Realtors®

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Author: kimh