With economic reports in the previous week taking on a sweeter, yet ultimately lighter flavor due to the lack of pertinent information released, mortgage rates hardly moved on the most recent Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The mortgage buyer said in its most recent report that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbed by just one basis point, moving up from 4.40 percent to 4.41 percent for the week ended Thursday, April 3, 2014.
15-year fixed mortgages were also up last week, rising from 3.42 percent to 3.47 percent. Likewise, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages crept up two basis points from 3.10 percent to 3.12 percent. One year ago to this date, 30-year fixed mortgages, 15-year fixed mortgages, and five-year ARMs were at 3.54 percent, 2.74 percent, and 2.65 percent respectively. Additionally, one-year ARMs added one basis point from 2.44 percent to 2.45 percent last week, but the year-ago rate of 2.63 percent for this type home loan is actually above last week’s figures.
“Mortgage rates were little changed amid a week of light economic reports. Of the few releases, real GDP was revised up slightly to 2.6 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2013,” said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft, commenting on the variables affecting mortgage rates in the past week. He also cited figures of 191,000 private sector jobs created in March, which followed an upward revision of 39,000 new jobs from the month prior.
Further, Nothaft quoted analytics from the Institute for Supply Management, which suggested “the manufacturing industry rebounded from a soft February but was still below market consensus.”