30-year fixed mortgage rates were hardly changed on yesterday’s Zillow Mortgages report, as rates climbed two basis points from 4.06 percent to 4.08 percent.
Following the release of last week’s Zillow Mortgages update, 30-year fixed mortgage rates had actually zoomed up to 4.23 percent before settling yesterday and showing a firming in rates from the week prior. In addition to the above uptick, 15-year fixed mortgages were at 3.15 percent as of Tuesday, while 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages settled at 2.92 percent; all of the above rates are considerably lower than they were one year ago to this date.
Once again, Zillow’s ticker showed mixed results per state, as 30-year mortgage rates were down significantly (9 basis points) in Massachusetts, but up eight basis points in two major markets, Illinois and New Jersey.
According to Zillow vice president of mortgages Erin Lantz, the main factor pushing mortgage rates up last week was the lack of troublesome news in the international front. “Mortgage rates inched up early last week during a brief reprieve from worrisome geopolitical headlines, before easing back down and stabilizing for the remainder of the week,” she observed. “This week, Thursday’s GDP data has the most potential to move markets, which could cause rates to rise or fall depending on how it meets expectations.”
For today’s Mortgage Bankers Application index, Zillow expects that purchase loan activity would rise by 6 percent with seasonal adjustment taken into consideration. Predictions for the MBA’s Weekly Application Index are based on a combination of loan requests forwarded to Zillow Mortgages from the previous week and that same week’s MBA index data.