A day after the Mortgage Bankers Association announced a hefty decline in interest rates, Freddie Mac’s weekly interest rate survey indicated a more modest drop.
Freddie Mac’s survey showed the average interest rate on a 30 year fell from 6.40% to 6.33% for the week ended October 19th, while the MBA survey saw the average 30 year fixed mortgage fall to 6.21%.
Freddie’s survey saw the average 15-year fixed drop to 5.99% last week, while the MBA’s 15-year dipped to 5.86% on average.
Freddie also reported an interest rate decline in the 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage, dipping to 6.03%, down from 6.11% a week earlier.
Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said, “Market concerns about slower economic growth over the next few months allowed mortgage rates to drift lower from last week.”
Earlier today, the Commerce Department said U.S. September new home sales rose 4.8% to a 770,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, though it was below expectations for 780,000 annualized units.
Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors reported an 8% drop in U.S. September existing home sales to a rate of 5.04 million units.
“Both economic indicators and mortgage rates came in mixed this week,” said Nothaft. “While retail sales were stronger in September, consumer confidence fell below market expectations in October. Moreover, both the core consumer price index and producer prices for September remained contained.
It is believed that roughly 125 lenders are surveyed by Freddie Mac each week, with the mix of lenders including thrifts, commercial banks and mortgage lending companies.
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