Mortgage rates are a hot topic these days, they seem to keep going down and down. Recently, mortgage giant Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®) for both 30 year and 15 year fixed-rate mortgages are at all time lows (since Freddie started tacking back in 1971).
Below is an overview of the numbers:
• 30 year fixed-rate 4.49%, down from 5.22% this time last year
• 15 year fixed rate 3.95%, down from 4.63% this time last year
• Five year Treasury ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage)3.63%, down from 4.73% this time last year
• One year Treasury ARM 3.55%, down from 4.78% this time last year
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) numbers fell last quarter – the government’s report on second-quarter economic growth showed a marked slowdown from the first quarter. A lower GDP confirms investor expectations that the Federal Reserve won’t be raising short-term interest rates any time soon.
Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, said, "And yet again, interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages and now the hybrid 5-year ARM fell to all-time record lows this week following the second quarter GDP release. Annual revisions cut the cumulative GDP growth in half over the past three years ending in the first quarter of 2010 from 1.4 percent to 0.6 percent. This reduces inflationary pressures and allows longer-term rates room to ease.”
The big question that most potential homebuyers want to know is will rates go lower? Many are hopeful but we may be near the bottom, and we’ll have to see some serious economic growth before they stabilize.
/kh
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