The 10-year Treasury yield remained flat this week in anticipation of the Fed’s July policy meeting. Mortgage rates, on the other hand, rose another 3 basis points to 3.48 percent. Nonetheless, home sales continue to benefit from the persistently low mortgage rates with June’s new home sales coming in at an annualized rate of 592,000 homes – its fastest pace since 2008.
Post-Brexit volatility tapered off over the last two weeks, allowing interest rates to bounce back a bit from their record (10-year Treasury yield) and near-record (30-year mortgage rate) lows. This week, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased 3 basis points to a still-quite-low 3.45 percent.
Immediately following the Brexit vote, U.S. Treasury yields plummeted to all-time lows. This week, markets stabilized and the 10-year Treasury yield rebounded sharply. In contrast, the 30-year mortgage rate declined after the Brexit vote, but only by half as much as the 10-year Treasury yield. This week, the 30-year fixed rate barely budged, rising just one basis point to 3.42 percent. This pattern suggests that mortgage rates are likely to remain low throughout the summer.
Continuing fallout from the Brexit vote drove Treasury yields lower again this week. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage followed Treasury yields, falling 7 basis points to 3.41 percent in this week’s survey. Mortgage rates have now dropped 15 basis points over the past two weeks, leaving them only 10 basis points above the all-time low.
In the wake of the Brexit vote, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond plummeted 24 basis points. The 30-year mortgage rate declined 8 basis points to 3.48 percent. This week’s survey rate is the lowest since May 2013 and only 17 basis points above the all-time low recorded in November 2012. This extremely low mortgage rate should support solid home sales and refinancing volume this summer.
Mortgage rates have been slow to adjust to the 10-year Treasury yield, which has increased 12 basis points since last week. This week’s survey shows the 30-year fixed rate inching up to 3.56 percent, only 2 basis points above last week’s average. The low rates continue to be good news for the housing market.
The 10-year Treasury yield continued its free fall this week as global risks and expectations for the Fed’s June meeting drove investors to the safety of government bonds. The 30-year mortgage rate responded by falling 6 basis points for the second straight week to 3.54 percent–yet another low for 2016.
Growing optimism about the state of the economy was quickly erased with May’s employment report. The disappointing release caused an immediate flight to quality resulting in the 10-year Treasury yield dropping 10 basis points on Friday. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage responded by falling 6 basis points to 3.60 percent. This week marks the 10th consecutive week the 30-year rate has averaged under 3.7 percent, allowing an extended window for homebuyers to take advantage of these historically-low borrowing costs.
Since jumping 11 basis points on May 18th, the 10-year Treasury yield has leveled-off around 1.85 percent. Mortgage rates continue to adjust to this new level with the 30-year fixed rate inching up another 2 basis points this week to 3.66 percent.
U.S. Treasury yields moved up in response to the Fed minutes release, which kept alive the possibility of a summer rate-hike. Mortgage rates followed, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increasing 6 basis points to 3.64 percent. Despite this increase, May ends the month averaging only 3.60 percent, 1 basis point below April’s average, and the lowest monthly average in 3 years.