Today's Mortgage Rates

The rise in mortgage rates broke this week, ending a seven week string of increases that lifted 30-year fixed rates nearly a half percentage point.

As reported by Freddie Mac today, the average offered interest rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined by five basis points (0.05%), easing to 3.13%. The average offered interest rate for conforming 15-year FRMs also slid downward, declining three basis points (0.03%) to land at 2.42%. The initial fixed interest rate for a conforming hybrid 5/1 ARM bucked the downward trend seen in its fixed-rate counterparts, rising by eight one-hundredths of a percentage point (0.08%) to 2.92% for the week.

Although there have been key signals that the economy is gaining speed at an accelerating pace, including greater activity in both the manufacturing and service sectors of the economy and surging recovery of hiring. To this, massive fiscal stimulus is starting to further power economic growth, and more such federal spending may be in the works. The Federal Reserve remains committed to both rock-bottom interest rates and QE-style bond buying and expects soon-to-be-rising inflation signs to be transitory.

Awaiting actual evidence of speedier growth and more persistent price pressures, and after the significant run-up in interest rates, investors seem to be content with present levels of yields, and it feels as though rates will be rangebound for a bit until growth, unemployment and inflation all begin to make regular, meaningful moves in their respective right directions (or at least until more signs accumulate that suggest these trends are getting underway).

So after the run-up, a period of settling, perhaps. More clues about the speed of recovery may come next week in the form of the Fed's Beige Book and reports covering retail sales, but until then, mortgage rates may be stable to perhaps just a little softer in the coming days.

In each week's MarketTrends newsletter, we track and discuss economic conditions that affect mortgage rates and their impact on housing markets and consumers. Read the most recent edition on HSH.com or subscribe for email delivery.