Mortgage rates edged down slightly during the week ended August 9, with the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 4.59%, down from 4.60% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a 30-year FRM was 3.90%.
Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, says the fact that mortgage rates have been mostly flat during the past several months has been “much needed for home sales, which have crested because of the multi-year run up in prices, tight affordable inventory and this year’s higher rates.”
“Going forward, the strong economy will support the housing market, but with affordability pressures mounting, further spikes in mortgage rates will lead to continued softening in home price growth,” Khater says in a statement.
Khater says although it is a good thing that the job market is growing, “wage growth is not meaningfully increasing above inflation.”
“With home prices still climbing and mortgage rates up from 3.90 percent a year ago, some prospective buyers are definitely feeling an affordability crunch,” he says.
The average rate for a 15-year FRM was 4.05%, down slightly from last week when it averaged 4.08%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.18%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.90%, down from 3.93% A year ago at this time, the five-year ARM averaged 3.14%.