Mortgage Rates Dribble Down

RISMEDIA, Friday, March 03, 2017— Mortgage rates dribbled down this week after a month of minimal movement, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 4.1 percent, according to Freddie Mac's recently released Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®). The movement of rates is off-mark from that of the Treasury yield, says Sean Becketti, chief economist at Freddie Mac. "The 10-year Treasury yield remained relatively flat this week, while the 30-year mortgage rate fell six basis points to 4.1 percent," Becketti says. "Since the beginning of the year, the 10-year Treasury yield has covered a 22-basis point range. The range of movement for the 30-year has been half that, just 11 basis points." The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is down from 4.16 percent the prior week, according to the survey. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averages 3.32 percent, down from the prior week, 3.37 percent, while the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averages 3.14 percent, also down from the prior week, 3.16 percent. The Federal Reserve will make a decision on whether to raise the key interest rate, which has an indirect after-effect on mortgage rates, in mid-March. Source: Freddie Mac