Mortgage rates eased this week

Mortgage rates eased at the start of this week, with several daily trackers showing the lowest 30-year fixed offers in weeks on Monday, April 13. (cbsnews.com) CBS News reported the average 30-year mortgage rate at 6.30% on April 13 and the average 15-year rate at 5.92%. Yahoo Finance, citing Zillow’s lender marketplace, put the average 30-year fixed rate even lower at 6.15%, down about a quarter point over the previous five days. (cbsnews.com) (finance.yahoo.com) The broader weekly benchmark also moved down. Freddie Mac said the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.37% for the week ending April 9, down from 6.46% a week earlier, while the 15-year average slipped to 5.74% from 5.77%. (freddiemac.com) Freddie Mac’s survey is based on conventional, conforming purchase loans pulled from thousands of applications, while daily sites track lender offers and marketplaces in real time. That is why the April 13 numbers vary by source even when all of them point in the same direction. (freddiemac.com) (money.yahoo.com) The drop matters in the middle of the spring homebuying season, when even a few tenths of a percentage point can change a monthly payment and a borrower’s qualifying range. CBS said the move followed a bond-market rally tied to shifting trade-war expectations, which pulled yields lower and gave mortgage rates room to fall. (cbsnews.com) It also arrives after a softer stretch for mortgage demand. The Mortgage Bankers Association said applications fell 0.8% in the week ending April 3, refinance applications dropped 3% from the prior week, and purchase applications were 7% lower than a year earlier. (mba.org) Mortgage Bankers Association data showed the average contract rate on 30-year conforming loans had already eased to 6.51% in that week, from 6.57% the week before. Joel Kan, the group’s vice president and deputy chief economist, said many refinance borrowers had been “frozen out” by the sharp increase over the prior month. (mba.org) For homeowners, the math is improving but still selective. CBS reported the average 30-year refinance rate at 6.62% on April 13 and said owners with rates above 7% may want to rerun the numbers, while borrowers with stronger credit profiles are still more likely to get the best offers. (cbsnews.com) By Tuesday, April 14, Zillow’s posted 30-year fixed rate was 6.125%, suggesting the dip had not vanished overnight. Whether that window stays open will depend on the same bond-market swings that pushed rates down in the first place. (zillow.com)