Mortgage Rates Deflate Again

Average fixed mortgage rates took a downturn in the latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.47 percent for the week ending Oct. 27, down from last week’s 3.52 percent, while the 15-year FRM averaged 2.78 percent, down from last week’s 2.79 percent. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.84 percent, slightly below last week’s 2.85 percent.

Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages were nearly flat from August to September, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts.

Separately, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders Index was 3.61 percent for loans closed in late September, up from 3.58 percent in August. The average interest rate on all mortgage loans was 3.60 percent, a slight uptick from August’s 3.59 percent.

The average interest rate on conventional, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages of $417,000 or less was 3.73 percent, a slight dip from 3.74 percent in August, while the effective interest rate on all mortgage loans was 3.73 percent in September, up from 3.72 percent in August. The average loan amount for all loans was $302,900 in September, down $19,800 from $322,700 in August.