Mortgage rates continued to edge down during the week ended April 9, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was 3.66%, down from 3.70% the previous week. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.34%.
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 3.38%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 2.83%, down from 2.92% A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 3.09%.
The average rate for a one-year Treasury-indexed ARM was 2.46%, unchanged from the previous week. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 2.41%.
‘Mortgage rates fell across the board following last week's disappointing employment report,’ says Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a release. ‘The U.S. economy added 126,000 new jobs in March, well below market expectations of 247,000 jobs. We did see some up tick in wages, as average hourly earnings increased seven cents for the month, and are up 2.1 percent over the year. Meanwhile, jobless claims fell sharply to 268,000, much lower than market expectations of 285,000.’