Some of today’s news says mortgage rates are much lower than last week. And behold, I tell you, they are higher. Who should you believe? Easy! Trust me. What I just told you is accurate. The other stuff is outdated info. I’m sorry the rates went up. the end. For those who want more context, read on. Today’s rates are significantly higher than yesterday’s rates with the average lender back at 7.0% for a traditional 30-year Tier 1 fixed scenario. When our index is at 7.0%, it means that many lenders are offering rates in the mid to top 6, but with added upfront costs (establishment and/or discount points). We update our price index every day, but the industry’s longest-running Freddie Mac price index is updated once a week. Released today, it shows a sharp drop in mortgage rates. Freddy doesn’t lie to you. You just have to read the fine print. First, the Freddie 5 index covers the days of the week leading up to last Wednesday. During that time, prices were already much higher than the 5 days before yesterday (the time frame of the figure announced today). Also, Freddie does not factor in discount points or other upfront costs in its index. This means that the rate of 6.625% with the 1% discount up front is only 6.625%, while it is closer to 7.1% without the extra point up front. Many market participants see today’s interest rate hike as slightly exaggerated relative to the underlying justification. Chief among them was economic data this morning which showed that the labor market was still much more resilient than expected, but rates were already poised to move higher before that data was released.
Source link
