Friday 20 March 2015

30 Year Mortgage Rates decline to March Lows

From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates End Week at March Lows
Mortgage rates moved modestly lower on average today after doing an admirable job of holding their ground amid weaker market conditions yesterday. That weakness was largely the result of a technical correction to the immense strength seen after Wednesday's Fed Announcement and Press Conference. The following two days have essentially legitimized that strength as something other than a temporary knee jerk reaction.
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Most lenders are now quoting a conventional 30yr fixed rate of 3.75% for top tier scenarios. There's more consensus on that one rate than normal. Many lenders that had been at 3.875% are just barely into the 3.75% territory after this week's gains, but underlying market levels are quite strong enough and haven't been maintained long enough for too many lenders to make the foray down to 3.625%.
Note: rates are still above the level required for a significant increase in refinance activity. Historically refinance activity picks up significantly when mortgage rates fall about 50 bps from a recent level.

Based on the relationship between the 30 year mortgage rate and 10-year Treasury yields, the 10-year Treasury yield would probably have to decline to 1.5% or lower for a significant refinance boom (in the near future). With the 10-year yield currently at 1.93%, I don't expect a significant increase in refinance activity.

Here is a table from Mortgage News Daily:


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