Consumers are losing confidence in the economy, and that’s helping drive down mortgage rates.
Since mortgage rates are closely tied to the movement of long-term bonds, interest rates on home loans continue to tumble.
The 15-year fixed-rate average slipped to 2.93 percent with an average 0.5 point, its third straight week below 3 percent. It was 2.95 percent a week ago and 3.07 percent a year ago.
The five-year adjustable-rate average fell to 2.79 percent with an average 0.5 point. It was 2.85 percent a week ago and 2.99 percent a year ago.
“Yields on the 10-year Treasury continued their downward trend this week after a small rally the previous two weeks,” Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac chief economist, said in a statement.
“The 30-year mortgage responded, falling 3 basis points to 3.62 percent. [A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.] Since the beginning of 2016, 30-year rates have fallen almost 40 basis points helping housing markets sustain their momentum into this year. Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors announced existing home-sales were up 4 percent month over month in January and up 11 percent from last year.”
Meanwhile, mortgage applications were down, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The market composite index — a measure of total loan-application volume — fell 4.3 percent from the previous week. The refinance index tumbled 8 percent, while the purchase index rose 2 percent.
The refinance share of mortgage activity accounted for 61 percent of all applications.
