Mortgage rates fell again amid declining bond yields and oil prices during the week ended Jan. 22, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was 3.63%, down from 3.66% the previous week to reach the lowest level since the week ended May 23, 2013, when it averaged 3.59%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.39%.
The average rate for a 15-year FRM was 2.93%, down from 2.98% the week prior. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.44%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 2.83%, down from 2.90% the previous week. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 3.15%.
The average rate for a one-year Treasury-indexed ARM was 2.37%, unchanged from the previous week. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 2.54%.
‘Mortgage rates continued to fall, albeit at a slower pace, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 3.63 percent this week,’ says Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a release. ‘Housing starts picked up in December, coming in at a seasonally adjusted 1.089 million-unit pace and beating market expectations.
‘Meanwhile, the drop in energy prices pushed the Producer Price Index down 0.3 percent for December and the Consumer Price Index fell 0.4 percent,’ Nothaft adds.