Rep. Troy Downing, R-Mont., joins Mornings and Maria to discuss President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the signing of the housing bill until the Senate moves forward with the SAVE America Act.
Housing prices was marked higher this week, but little changed, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Freddie Mac The latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 6.49% from last week's reading of 6.47% and 6.52% the week before last.
The average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.77% at this time last year.
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Mortgage rates rose slightly last week, according to Freddie Mac. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The 30-year mortgage rate was little changed this week at 6.49%,” said Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac.
“Rates have remained stable over the past six weeks. Meanwhile, purchase activity has moderated and moderated and refinance activity has continued to pick up recently, reflecting borrowers' response to current rate levels,” Khater added.
Average rating in a 15 year fixed mortgage it also rose slightly, rising to 5.84% as of Thursday. That is an increase from last week's reading of 5.81%, although it remains below the average of 5.89% from last year.
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Mortgage rates are affected by several factors, including The Federal Reserve and geopolitics. While mortgage rates are not directly affected by the Fed's interest rate decisions, they closely track the 10-year Treasury yield. The 10-year yield rose to 4.4% as of Thursday afternoon.
The latest mortgage data comes a little more than a week after the Federal Reserve voted to keep its interest rate unchanged from 3.5% to 3.75% amid concerns about stubbornly high inflation. The war in Iran to squeeze oil resources.
Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold rates steady because of the hike inflation following Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's first policy meeting as head of the central bank. Their economic projections on the so-called “dot plot” showed nine members of the 17-member Federal Open Market Committee predicting a rate hike before the end of this year.
Mortgage rates have held steady for the past six weeks. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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The Commerce Department on Thursday released its personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index — the Fed's preferred inflation gauge — that reflected that theme. PCE inflation it was up 4.1% from last year, while core PCE was 3.4% higher.
Both metrics are well above the Fed's long-term inflation target of 2%, dampening market expectations for the central bank to cut interest rates this year.
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The CME FedWatch from Thursday shows that rates remaining at their current levels until the end of the year is the most likely outcome, while also indicating a greater likelihood of one or more rate hikes this year than a rate cut.
