Mortgage rates continued to edge downward during the week ended July 5, with the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at 4.52%, down from 4.55% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.96%.
Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, points out that mortgage rates have now declined in five of the past six weeks.
“The run-up in mortgage rates earlier this year represented not just a rise in risk-free borrowing costs, but for investors, the mortgage spread also rose back to more normal levels by about 20 basis points,” Khater says in a release. “What that means for buyers is good news. Mortgage rates may have a little more room to decline over the very short term.
“Although the current economic expansion is in its 10th year, residential single-family real estate was initially slow to recover,” Khater adds. “Now, backed by the demographic tailwind provided by millennials reaching the peak age to buy their first home, the housing market should have some room to grow going forward.”
The average rate for a 15-year FRM this week was 3.99%, down from 4.04% the previous week. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.22%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.74%, down from 3.87%. A year ago at this time, the five-year ARM averaged 3.21%.