{"id":6241,"date":"2022-03-03T15:07:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T21:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/mortgage-rates-fall-this-week-to-3-76\/"},"modified":"2022-03-03T15:07:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T21:07:29","slug":"mortgage-rates-fall-this-week-to-3-76","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nwfl4sale.com\/mortgage-rates-fall-this-week-to-3-76\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage Rates Fall This Week to 3.76%"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After flirting with 4% in Feb., the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage dropped lower for the second week, hitting 3.76% from last week\u2019s 3.89%.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n WASHINGTON (AP) \u2013 Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week and remain at historically low levels, just as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise its main borrowing rate later this month.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The average rate on a 30-year loan declined to 3.76% this week from 3.89% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday. A year ago, the long-term rate was 3.02%.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those refinancing their homes, fell to 3.01% from 3.14% a week earlier. It stood at 2.34% a year ago.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that he supports a traditional quarter-point increase in the Federal Reserve\u2019s benchmark short-term interest rate when the Fed meets later this month, rather than a larger increase that some of its policymakers have proposed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But Powell did open the door to a bigger hike in the event that inflation, which has reached a four-decade high, doesn\u2019t noticeably decline this year, as the Fed expects it to.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Labor Department reported last month that consumer prices were 7.5% in January compared with 12 months earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982. Higher costs for nearly everything have wiped out Americans\u2019 pay raises, reinforcing the Federal Reserve\u2019s intention to raise borrowing rates.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Home prices are up about 14% in the past year and as much as 30% in some cities. Housing supply was limited even before the pandemic began in 2020, and higher prices and rising interest rates would make it even harder for Americans to secure a new home.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n