US Mortgage Rates Flat this Week
Location: McLean
Author:
Eileen Fitzpatrick
Date: Friday, May 4, 2007
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.87 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down slightly from last week when it averaged 5.88 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 6.21 percent.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.42 percent this week with an average 0.7 point, also down slightly from last week when it averaged 5.43 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.67 percent.
(Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total cost of obtaining the mortgage.)
“The recently advanced report of first quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was weaker than expected, growing only 1.3 percent. The housing market alone shaved a full percentage point off real GDP growth,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Additionally, both consumer spending and price increases in consumer expenditures were quite tame in March. These contributing factors allowed mortgage rates to hold steady this week.
“Interestingly, the refinance share of mortgage applications has been on a downward trend from a recent peak of nearly 53 percent in December, 2006 to around 42 percent last week. But a majority of refinancing involved homeowners extracting equity from their homes. Given that rates on home equity loans are currently around 8.25 percent, homeowners have a big incentive to use cash-out refinancing as an alternative source of financing.”
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SUMMARY OF SURVEY RESULTS |
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|
Fixed-Rate Mortgages |
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| Average Conventional 30-Year Commitment Rate | Fees & Points | Average Conventional 15-Year Commitment Rate | Fees & Points | |
| US | 6.16 | 0.5 | 5.87 | 0.5 |
| Northeast | 6.19 | 0.2 | 5.95 | 0.2 |
| Southeast | 6.12 | 0.6 | 5.82 | 0.6 |
| North Central | 6.20 | 0.4 | 5.93 | 0.4 |
| Southwest | 6.15 | 0.4 | 5.89 | 0.4 |
| West | 6.14 | 0.8 | 5.81 | 0.8 |
|
Adjustable–Rate Mortgages |
||||||
| 5/1 ARM Commitment Rate | Fees & Points | Margin | 1 Year ARM Commitment Rate | Fees & Points | Margin | |
| US | 5.87 | 0.6 | 2.76 | 5.42 | 0.7 | 2.76 |
| Northeast | 5.91 | 0.3 | 2.75 | 5.50 | 0.6 | 2.75 |
| Southeast | 5.83 | 0.8 | 2.76 | 5.41 | 0.8 | 2.76 |
| North Central | 5.92 | 0.4 | 2.77 | 5.43 | 0.6 | 2.77 |
| Southwest | 5.92 | 0.4 | 2.78 | 5.45 | 0.6 | 2.82 |
| West | 5.83 | 0.9 | 2.74 | 5.34 | 0.9 | 2.74 |
Freddie Mac defines its regions as
follows:
Northeast: NY, NJ, PA, DE,
MD, DC, VA, WV, ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT
Southeast: NC, SC, TN, KY,
GA, AL, FL, MS, PR, VI
North Central: OH, IN, IL,
MI, WI, MN, IA, ND, SD
Southwest:
TX, LA, NM, OK, AR, MO, KS, CO, NE, WY
West: CA, AZ, NV, OR, WA, UT, ID,
MT, HI, AK, GU
DEFINITIONS
Commitment Rate is the
interest rate a lender would charge to lend mortgage money to a qualified
borrower exclusive of the fees and points required by the lender. This
commitment rate applies only to conventional financing on conforming
mortgages with loan-to-value rates of 80 percent or less.
ARM Index –is the One-year
Treasury
Loan to Value Ratio (LTV) is
the ratio of the loan amount of a mortgage loan to the lower of the
appraisal value or purchase price of the property securing the loan.
Origination Fees and
Discount Points are the total charged by the lender at settlement. One
point equals one percent of the loan amount.
Margin is a fixed amount
added to the underlying index to establish the fully indexed rate for an
ARM.
Weighted Averages for the Primary Mortgage Market Survey have been
adjusted as of October 26, 2006. The new weights use the dollar volume of
conventional mortgage originations within the 1-unit Freddie Mac loan
limit as reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) for 2005.
The weights are listed in the table below.
|
Freddie Mac Region |
PMMS Weights |
|
Northeast |
24.5 |
|
Southeast |
18.6 |
|
North Central |
15.4 |
|
Southwest |
10.4 |
|
West |
31.0 |
PRIMARY MORTGAGE MARKET SURVEY RESULTS
30-YEAR FIXED RATE MORTGAGES
|
|
||||||
|
US |
NE |
SE |
NC |
SW |
W |
|
| AVERAGE |
6.16 |
6.19 |
6.12 |
6.20 |
6.15 |
6.14 |
| Fees & Points |
0.5 |
0.2 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.8 |
15-YEAR FIXED RATE MORTGAGES
|
|
||||||
|
US |
NE |
SE |
NC |
SW |
W |
|
| AVERAGE |
5.87 |
5.95 |
5.82 |
5.93 |
5.89 |
5.81 |
| Fees & Points |
0.5 |
0.2 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.8 |
5/1 ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES (ARMs)
|
|
||||||
|
US |
NE |
SE |
NC |
SW |
W |
|
| AVERAGE |
5.87 |
5.91 |
5.32 |
5.92 |
5.92 |
5.83 |
| Fees & Points |
0.6 |
0.3 |
0.8 |
0.4 |
0.4 |
0.9 |
1-YEAR ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES (ARMs)
|
|
||||||
|
US |
NE |
SE |
NC |
SW |
W |
|
| AVERAGE |
5.42 |
5.50 |
5.41 |
5.43 |
5.45 |
5.34 |
| Fees & Points |
0.7 |
0.6 |
0.8 |
0.6 |
0.6 |
0.9 |
THE NATIONAL MORTGAGE RATE SNAPSHOT
|
|
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|
|
One Year Ago | |||
|
|
30-YR FRM |
15-YR FRM |
5/1 ARM |
1-YR ARM |
| AVERAGE |
6.59 |
6.22 |
6.21 |
5.67 |
| Fees & Points |
0.6 |
0.6 |
0.7 |
0.8 |
|
|
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|
|
One Week Ago | |||
|
|
30-YR FRM |
15-YR FRM |
5/1 ARM |
1-YR ARM |
| AVERAGE |
6.16 |
5.87 |
5.88 |
5.43 |
| Fees & Points |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.7 |
0.7 |
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) is for informational purposes only and Freddie Mac is not responsible for business decisions made based on the reported results of the PMMS. Freddie Mac may change the methodology used to conduct the PMMS survey at any time and without notice.
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