30-Year Mortgage Rate Drops to 2.94% in the Week Ending May 13, 2021

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending May 6, 2021. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.94% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.96% percent. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.28%. The 15-year fixed-mortgage averaged 2.26% with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.30%. A year ago, at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 2.72%. In prepared remarks, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist Sam Khater said, “Since the most recent peak in April, mortgage rates have declined nearly a quarter of a percent and have remained under three percent for the past month. Low rates offer homeowners an opportunity to lower their monthly payment by refinancing and our most recent research shows that many borrowers, especially Black and Hispanic borrowers, who could benefit from refinancing still aren’t pursuing the option.” Khater continued, “Additionally, the low mortgage rate environment has been a boon to the housing market but may not last long as consumer inflation has accelerated at its fastest pace in more than twelve years and may lead to higher mortgage rates in the summer.”