4.32: Mortgage Rates Hit 9-Week Low

• September 26, 2013

by Shilpi Paul

Interest rates fell almost 20 basis points this week.

On Thursday morning, Freddie Mac reported 4.32 percent with an average 0.7 point as the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. After hitting a yearly high of 4.58 percent in August, this week’s average marks a nine-week low.

Historically, this is still quite low for interest rates, but rates have risen a fair amount since 12 months ago. A year ago, long-term rates were at 3.4%.

From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft on today’s rates:

Mortgage rates fell following the Federal Reserve announcement that it will maintain its bond buying stimulus. These low rates should somewhat offset the house price gains seen the last number of months and keep housing affordability elevated. For instance, the S&P/Case-Shiller® 20-city composite house price index rose 12.4 percent over the 12-months ending in July, which represented the largest annual increase since February 2006. These increases in home values have also increased homeowner wealth. For example, homeowners experienced an aggregate $1.4 trillion increase in equity in their homes over the first half of this year which contributed to the overall $4.2 trillion gain in household net worth.

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.

Here’s a look at the path of rates since January 2010:

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/4.32_mortgage_rates_hit_9_week_low/7613