Today's Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates settled again this week, declining by the largest amount since last November, and are trending back toward the middle of their recent range.

Freddie Mac reported today that the average offered interest rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage eased by another nine basis points (0.09%), back pedaling to 3.04%. Conforming 15-year FRMs followed the trend, with the average offered interest rate for the popular refinancing vehicle dropping by seven basis points (0.07%) to 2.35 percent. The initial fixed interest rate for a conforming hybrid 5/1 ARM managed a decline of 12 one-hundredths of a percentage point, with its fall stopping at an average rate of 2.80% for the week.

After being rather unloved just a few short weeks ago, investors seem to have regained some appetite for bonds of late. The higher yields are of course somewhat more attractive than they had been, and ongoing difficulties in managing the viral outbreak across the globe are providing them at least some reasons for pressing more funds into low-risk, safe haven investments. Such demand helps depress yields, and fixed mortgage rates have been more closely tracking these movements over the last few months.

With the economy here still on the upswing, and with concerns about price pressures and more bouncing around the market, there's still a greater likelihood of higher rather than lower rates overall. Despite that, in the very near term, the trend has been to some softening for rates, but we think they'll mostly stabilize around these levels over 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.