Mortgage rates continue to rise, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). The PMMS focuses on conventional, conforming, fully amortizing home purchase loans for borrowers who put 20 percent down and have excellent credit.
Lenders surveyed are a mix of thrifts, credit unions, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies, roughly proportional to the level of mortgage businesses that each type of lender commands throughout the country.
The most recent survey results showed the standard 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.09 percent with an average 0.7 point. At the same time last year, the rate averaged 3.65 percent. Fifteen-year, fixed rate mortgages averaged 2.40 percent with an average 0.7 point, when a year ago it averaged 3.06 percent. The average rate for five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was 2.79 percent with an average 0.3 point. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 3.11 percent.
“As expected, mortgage rates continued to inch up but are still hovering around three percent, keeping interested buyers in the market,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac chief economist, said in a release. “However, residential construction has declined for two consecutive months and given the very low inventory environment, competition among potential homebuyers is a challenging reality, especially for first-time homebuyers.”