Borrowing costs continue to head lower, enticing home shoppers and refinancers to lock-in.
“Given the recent volatility of the ten-year Treasury yield, it’s not surprising that mortgage rates again have dropped,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “These low rates combined with high consumer confidence continue to drive home sales upward, a trend that is likely to endure as we enter spring.”
Freddie Mac reported the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Feb. 27:
- 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.45%, with an average 0.7 point, falling from last week’s 3.49% average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.35%.
- 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.95%, with an average 0.8 point, falling from last week’s 2.99% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 3.77%.
- 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.20%, with an average 0.2 point, falling from last week’s 3.25% average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.84%.
Mortgage rates fluctuate, and over the last 50 years they’ve changed significantly, Freddie Mac notes in a recent blog post. Consider, in the 1970s, the average rate was 8.86% compared to today’s 3.45%. Freddie Mac compiled the following chart to show how much mortgage rates have changed over the last five decades.
Source: Freddie Mac and “Mortgage Rates: Still the Deal of the Century,” Freddie Mac Blog (Feb. 27, 2020)
