Today's Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates drifted lower this week, taking back a little of last week's rise.

Freddie Mac reported today that the average offered rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined by two basis points (0.02%), sliding back to 2.77%. Conforming fifteen-year FRMs did the same, with a two basis point slide decreasing the averaged offered rate to 2.21%, while the initial fixed interest rate on a hybrid 5/1 ARMs moved just as erratically downward this week as it did upward last week, posting a decline of 32 one-hundredths of a percentage point to drop back to 2.80% for the week. As we did last week, we suspect there are survey-sample issues in the Freddie Mac data that are the cause of the wild swings.

The rather large sell-off in bonds of over a week ago continues to fade and settle, and interest rates have begun to drift back a little in response. A light calendar of economic news isn't giving much for investors to ponder at the moment, and the markets are turning focus to President Biden's plans for more stimulus, regulations and nominees for cabinet positions and how these changes will affect and shape the coming months and years.

For the moment, it appears as though the influential yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury has settled into a new range, and with spreads from the Treasury to mortgages near normal levels, it may be hard for mortgage rates to decline much from present levels, but they still don't have much reason to rise, either. That suggests a flat pattern for mortgage rates in the next few 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.