After climbing back above the 4 percent threshold, fixed mortgage rates lost a little bit of ground this week, according to the latest from Freddie Mac [1].
Freddie's Primary Mortgage Market Survey [2], released Thursday, shows the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) coming in at an average interest rate of 4.01 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending November 13, just down from last week's average of 4.02 percent.
Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.35 percent.
The 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.20 percent (0.5 point), also declining just barely from 4.21 percent in last week's survey.
"Fixed mortgage rates were slightly down on mixed results from October's employment report [3]," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac. "While the unemployment rate declined to 5.8 percent, nonfarm employment rose by 214,000 jobs, which was below consensus expectations."
Hybrid adjustable rates moved in different directions for the week. According to Freddie, the 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged a rate of 3.02 percent (0.5 point) this week, up from 2.97 percent a week ago. The 1-year ARM averaged 2.43 percent (0.4 point), down from 2.45 percent last week.
Rate movements were similarly mixed in Bankrate.com's [4] weekly survey [5]. According to the site, the 30-year fixed averaged 4.13 percent this week, down from 4.14 percent a week ago, while the 15-year fixed averaged 3.32 percent, down from 3.34 percent.
The 5/1 ARM, meanwhile, edged up in Bankrate's report, climbing to 3.22 percent from 3.18 percent previously.
"The monthly employment report showed continued solid job creation, underscoring the strength of the U.S. economic recovery," Bankrate said in its release. "But meager wage growth is a counterbalance that could prompt the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low, despite improving economic fundamentals. As this tug of war plays out, mortgage rates and bond yields remain in a holding pattern."