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The Week Ahead: Measuring Mortgage Rate Movements

Close-up Of Wooden Seesaw Showing Balance Between Percentage Symbol And House Model

Freddie Mac will release its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey [1]on Thursday, November 12, as mortgage rates have held steady for the past two weeks. 

Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, said mixed signals by the economy led to rates not changing from 3.68% for the week ending on December 5. 

“Survey data for manufacturing and service industries varied while construction spending fell modestly. However, homebuyer demand continued to improve, rising eight percent. Clearly homebuyers remain bullish on the real estate market,” Khater said. 

According to Nerdwallet’s daily rate survey [2], the December mortgage rates forecast [3]is not entirely sunny, but it does also seem as if tumultuous storms or heavy rain are not in the near future. In fact, mortgage rates have shown a steady baseline throughout the past half-year, right around 4% APR, which leads experts to predict that the last month of the year will likewise follow suit and stay within a close one-eighth of a percentage point on either side of 4%.

There are several reasons for this welcomed stasis, including the fact that the economy has been meeting investors’ expectations, rather than throwing them curveballs with unforeseen surprises or rises and falls. More will be revealed once the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee convenes on December 10 and 11. However, the anticipated result of this meeting is for short-term interest rates to remain as is.

“The White House’s comments about the trade war with China sent markets into selloff mode this week. However, stocks recovered during Wednesday trading, placing investors in a wait-and-see mode, and keeping mortgage rates unchanged at 3.68% for conventional 30-year loans,” said realtor.com’s Senior Economist George Ratiu. “Rates are well below levels seen a year ago, placing buyers in a good position to qualify for mortgages.” 

 

Here's what else is happening in The Week Ahead

CFPB WorkShop With Federal Trade Commission [4] (December 10) 

Fed Rate Announcement (December 11)