Mortgage rates remained essentially unchanged over the past week, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.
Freddie’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) reports the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 2.88 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.90 percent.
“The slowdown in economic growth around the world has caused a flight to the quality of the U.S. financial markets,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “This has led to a rise in foreign investor purchases of U.S. Treasuries, causing mortgage rates to remain in place, despite the increasing dispersion of inflation across different consumer goods and services.”
Khater continued, “On the housing front, homebuyers continue to snap up available inventory, which has improved modestly, and home price growth is moderating. However, the next few months will be choppy as several home builders are signaling that they are going to deliver less supply amid labor and materials shortages.”
Additional findings from Thursday’s report:
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.88 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending September 23, 2021, up slightly from last week when it averaged 2.86 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.90 percent.
- 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.43 percent with an average 0.3 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.51 percent. A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 2.90 percent.