Mortgage rates moved higher for the third week in a row for the week ending March 17, with the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaging 3.73%, up from the prior week’s 3.68%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.78%.
The average rate for a 15-year FRM was 2.99%, up from last week when it averaged 2.96%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.06%.
The average rate for a five-year, Treasury-indexed, hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 2.93%, up from last week’s 2.92%. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 2.97%.
“Treasury yields increased heading into this week’s FOMC meeting, partially in response to modestly higher inflation readings,” says Sean Becketti, chief economist for Freddie Mac. “Thirty-year mortgage rates kept pace, rising five basis points to 3.73 percent. Nonetheless, at the meeting, the Fed confirmed what the market had already concluded and made no change to the Federal funds target. The Fed went further and acknowledged that economic signals have been mixed and that the pace of monetary tightening may be slower than had been assumed at the end of 2015.”