Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, out Thursday, shows that mortgage rates this week remained flat with the week before.
Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said, “The sound and fury of the financial markets continue to warn of an impending recession, however, the silver lining is mortgage demand reached a three-year high this week. The decline in mortgage rates over the last month is causing a spike in refinancing activity – as homeowners currently have $2 trillion in conventional mortgage loans that are in the money – which will help support consumer balance sheets and increase household cash flow. On top of that, purchase demand is up 7% from a year ago.”
News Facts:
30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.60% with an average 0.5 point for the week ending Aug 15, 2019, unchanged from last week. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.53%.
15-year FRM averaged 3.07% with an average 0.5 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.05%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.01%.
5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.35% with an average 0.3 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.36%. A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.87%.