There was not much change reported following President Barack Obama’s nomination of Janet L.
There was not much change reported following President Barack Obama’s nomination of Janet L. Yellen as Ben S. Bernanke’s eventual replacement as Federal Reserve Chairman. With House Democrats and Republicans still at loggerheads regarding budget and healthcare issues and the partial government shutdown still in force, mortgage rates were hardly changed in Freddie Mac’s latest weekly mortgage survey.
This week’s Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages were up by just one basis point, moving up from 4.22 percent to 4.23 percent. 15-year fixed-rate mortgages were also up ever so slightly, advancing from 3.29 percent to 3.31 percent. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages also climbed by two hundredths of a percentage point, from 3.03 percent to 3.05 percent.
One-year ARMs were also up a bit, advancing from 2.63 percent to 2.64 percent. Save for one- and five-year ARMs, which were at 2.73 and 2.59 percent respectively one year ago, this week’s figures remain far removed from the near-historical lows recorded one year ago to this date.
Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft weighed in on the variables that resulted in this week’s changes in mortgage rates, or lack thereof. “Mortgage rates were little changed amid the federal debt impasse in Washington, D.C., and a light week of economic data releases,” said Nothaft.
He also cited some of the economic statistics released this week as the government remained partially shut down – these included an additional 166,000 jobs created last month, a tad under street expectations and one that came after a downward revision of 17,000 new jobs in August.