4.12: Mortgage Rates Drop to Lowest Level in 7 Months

• May 29th 2014

by Lark Turner

On Thursday, Freddie Mac reported 4.12 percent with an average 0.6 point as the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, down from 4.14 percent last week. It’s the lowest point that long-term rates have reached since October 31, 2013.

The rates slid for the fifth consecutive week, and it’s not dramatically different than where they sat last year at this time. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.81 percent.

We’ve been following the path of the rates over time in this chart:

Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Frank Nothaft, said in a news release that the rates were the result of reports that home sales aren’t up as much as people thought they would be. But he was optimistic that they would soon be trending back upward:

“Fixed mortgage rates eased a bit for the fifth consecutive week as reports that existing home sales are up 1.3 percent but not as much as expected. However, new home sales rose 6.4 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000, which followed an upward revision of 11,000 units for the prior two months.”

The UrbanTurf Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: The rates reported by Freddie Mac for 30-year mortgages are usually the best rates that the most qualified borrowers can get, so borrowers or those considering refinancing should not necessarily read this news and think that they can go out and get a loan with the quoted interest rate.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/4.12_mortgage_rates_drop_to_lowest_level_in_7_months/8546.