Rates on the most popular types of mortgages were mixed, according to HSH.com's Weekly Mortgage Rates Radar. The average rate for conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose by one basis points (0.01 percent) to 4.43 percent. Conforming 5/1 Hybrid ARM rates decreased by two basis points, closing the Wednesday-to-Tuesday wraparound weekly survey at an average of 3.12 percent.
"Incoming data about the economy has been disappointing for a number of weeks, but the reasons aren't quite clear," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com. "Harsh winter weather is likely affecting some facets of the data to some degree, but how much is hard to determine. Without a clear path to follow, mortgage rates are mostly wandering sideways, awaiting confirmation of any trend, either up or down."
In recent weeks, softer-than-forecast reports covering retail sales, employment growth, housing, manufacturing activity and other important indicators have all failed to meet expectations or otherwise pointed to a slackening of growth. The most recent estimate for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2013 shows a U.S. growth rate of 3.2 percent. A new update for GDP comes Friday; this figure is expected to be marked down, and the first two months of 2014 seem to be featuring slower growth as well.
The present situation where investors attempt to peer through the haze to get a clearer picture of the true pace of growth is familiar," said Gumbinger. "In some ways, this is very similar to what we endured in November and December, when the government shutdown produced distorted data for a time. It took a couple of months to see that we actually fared pretty well. Perhaps that will also be the case this time, and the Fed's relatively rosy outlook will come to pass."
Average mortgage rates and points for conforming residential mortgages for the week ending February 25, according to HSH.com:
Conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
►Average rate: 4.43 percent
►Average points: 0.18
Conforming 5/1-year adjustable-rate mortgage
►Average rate: 3.12 percent
►Average points: 0.09
Average mortgage rates and points for conforming residential mortgages for the previous week ending Feb. 18 were, according to HSH.com:
Conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
►Average rate: 4.42 percent
►Average points: 0.16
Conforming 5/1-year adjustable-rate mortgage
►Average rate: 3.14 percent
►Average points: 0.10
