The Spread Between Mortgage Rates and Treasury Notes Increases in July

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note is traditionally a stand-in measure of the risk-free rate that the U.S. government offers on debt. However, although the 10-year U.S. Treasury note experienced a downward trend in July, dipping below 0.6%, mortgage rate through July failed to decrease proportionately. As tracked by the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the spread between the 10-year Treasury and the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate stayed constant through the first half of July and then increased slightly in the second half of the month. The spread between these two rates expanded at the end of July, hovering just above 240 basis points.