NEW YORK, NY – Mortgage rates were only slightly changed this week, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate inching higher to 4.30 percent, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey. The 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.26 discount and origination points.
The larger jumbo 30-year fixed also nosed higher, to 4.23 percent, while the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate held steady at 3.49 percent. Adjustable mortgage rates were also subdued, with the 7-year ARM holding at 3.68 percent and the 10-year ARM slipping to 3.85 percent.
Mortgage rates were in a holding pattern, along with seemingly everyone and everything else as legislative gridlock in Washington reasserted itself. Skepticism in financial markets has increased about the ability for meaningful tax reform or infrastructure spending to materialize in the near term, holding bond yields and mortgage rates in check. Mortgage rates are closely related to yields on long-term government bonds. But the continued trend of solid economic data could begin to offset this and push mortgage rates higher in the week ahead.
At the current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 4.30 percent, the monthly payment for a $200,000 loan is $989.74.
SURVEY RESULTS
30-year fixed: 4.30% — up from 4.29% last week (avg. points: 0.26)
15-year fixed: 3.49% — unchanged from last week (avg. points: 0.22)
5/1 ARM: 3.49% — up from 3.44% last week (avg. points: 0.29)
Bankrate’s national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in 10 top markets. For a full analysis of this week’s move in mortgage rates, go to www.bankrate.com
The survey is complemented by Bankrate’s weekly Rate Trend Index, in which a panel of mortgage experts predicts which way the rates are headed over the next seven days. The majority of panelists, 64 percent, expect mortgage rates to remain more or less unchanged in the coming week. The remainder are evenly split, with 18 percent predicting an increase and 18 percent forecasting a decline in mortgage rates over the next week.