Apr. 14, 2008 - What Is Going On With Mortgage Rates This Month
Mortgage interest rates remained relatively unchanged for the second week in a row.
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April 10th, 2008
30-yr 5.88 15-yr 5.42% 5-yr ARM 5.56 1-yr ARM 5.19
April 3rd, 2008
30-yr 5.88 15-yr 5.42% 5-yr ARM 5.59 1-yr ARM 5.18
March 27th, 2008
30-yr 5.85 15-yr 5.34% 5-yr ARM 5.67 1-yr ARM 5.24
So what is going on? The FED has been attempting to stimulate the economy by cutting the FED Funds rate. But the first few times the fed cut rates in 2008 banks did not respond by lowering mortgage interest rates. Since this is one of the main tools the FED uses to influence the economy and mortgage rates this was a cause for concern. If the FED losing its influence over mortgage rates would be another negative factor weighing on an already weakened economy. In the beginning of March their were some pronouncements from analysts that we should expect more FED rate cuts but we should not expect to see lower mortgage rates.
But then after the latest fed cut on March 18th mortgage rates fell from 6.13 to 5.87. So what has happened since then? Basically, in the absence of further rate cuts by the FED, mortgage rates have remained relatively constant.
In the midst of lots of bad news for the national real estate market this is actually a good sign that banks are apparently happy with the spread between the fed rate and mortgage rates. Hopefully future fed cuts (and it seems apparent at this point the fed will continue to cut rates) will result in lower mortgage rates.
Ki works as a realtor in Austin. He runs a site about Austin real estate which provides a free search of the Austin MLS and a free mortgage calculator.
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