Mortgage Rates Fall Below 3%, Hitting a 50-Year Low, in the Week Ending July 16th

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending July 16th, 2020. The PMMS shows that 30-year fixed-mortgage rate averaged 2.98% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.03%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.81%. The 15-year fixed-mortgage rate averaged 2.48% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.51%. A year ago, at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.23% Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist Sam Khater said in prepared remarks that “Mortgage rates fell below 3% for the first time in 50 years. The drop has led to increased homebuyer demand and, these low rates have been capitalized into asset prices in support of the financial markets. However, the countervailing force for the economy has been the rise in new virus cases which has caused the economic recovery to stagnate, and this economic pause puts many temporary layoffs at risk of ossifying into permanent job losses.”