The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate declined again this week, easing borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers during what is typically the housing market’s busiest time of the year.
The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate dropped to 6.3% from 6.37% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.83%.
The average rate is now at its lowest level since March 19, when it was 6.22%.
Meanwhile, borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also eased this week. That average rate dropped to 5.65% from 5.74% last week. A year ago, it was at 6.03%, Freddie Mac said.
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.
As recently as late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage slipped just under 6% for the first time since late 2022. They started climbing last month as the war with Iran sent energy prices surging, heightening worries about higher inflation. That pushed up the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.29% in midday trading on the bond market Thursday, up slightly from 4.28% a week ago. The yield was at just 3.97% in late February, before the war with Iran broke out.
Bond yields began to ease last week after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Pakistan’s powerful army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of efforts to press for an extension to the ceasefire.
The war has ratcheted up worries over higher inflation and the trajectory of the economy at a time when consumers are feeling less confident about the job market. That, plus the spike in mortgage rates much of the last seven weeks, has dampened the start of the spring homebuying season.
“The ceasefire announcement earlier this month may have temporarily eased mortgage rates; however, right now, the outlook for the spring market is still unclear,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS, said in an email. “Mortgage rates are probably going to remain volatile as there is still significant uncertainty about a long-term resolution of the conflict with Iran.”
The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at a 30-year low. They have remained sluggish so far this year, declining in January and February and March from a year earlier.
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