Following a significant drop last week, mortgage rates basically held steady this week, with the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hovering around 4.08%, up slightly from 4.06%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.40%.
“Purchase mortgage application demand saw the second highest weekly increase over the last year and thanks to a spike in refinancing activity, overall mortgage demand rose to the highest level since the fall of 2016,” says Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a statement.
“While the housing market has faced many head winds the last few months, it sailed through the turbulence to calmer seas with demand buttressed by a strong labor market and low mortgage rates,” Khater says. “The benefits of the decline in mortgage rates that we’ve seen this year will continue to unfold over the next few months due to the lag from changes in mortgage rates to market sentiment and ultimately home sales.”
For the week ended April 4, the average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.56%, down slightly from 3.57%.
A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.87%.
The average rate for a five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 3.66%, down from 3.75%.
A year ago at this time, the average rate for a five-year ARM was 3.62%.