Average US rate on 30-year mortgage falls to 3.65 percent

The downward trend in mortgage rates continued for the sixth consecutive week amid ongoing market volatility, the latest results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey found.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.65%, down from last week when it averaged 3.72%; a year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed averaged 3.69%.

The annual arrears rate for 2015 was 0.92 per cent, meaning fewer than one in 100 mortgage borrowers were behind on payments.

We are now six weeks into 2016 and mortgage rates have yet to rise.

Jumbo loans (balances greater than $417,000) had an average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate of 3.76%, falling from 3.84% the week before.

The benchmark yield stood at 1.71 per cent Wednesday, down from 1.82 per cent a week earlier.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen told Congress this week that the economic anxiety and market turbulence could depress the US economy’s growth and slow the pace of Fed interest rate hikes.

Not only are mortgage rates already at record low levels, but there’s the chance for them to fall further still in the months to come. She did concede, though, that negative rates, which central banks in Japan and Europe have recently imposed, are a tool the Fed has at least studied. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders.

Lower rates have the most profound effect on borrowers with larger loans, and that was clear last week.

5-year adjustable-rate mortgages priced at 2.83% with an average 0.4 point.

It means that fewer than one in every 1,000 mortgages ended in repossession in 2015, according to the CML, whose members include banks and building societies. The fee for a 15-year loan was unchanged at 0.5 point.

He noted that mortgage rates have dropped 0.36 percentage points, while the yield on a 10-year Treasury bond, which is the benchmark for mortgage rates, has dropped 0.59 percentage points in the same period.