I’m a creature of habit. I prefer things that are predictable, comfortable and reliable. But you know I haven’t always been this way. Back in my day, kids, I used to take random weekend road trips after work with no destination in mind. Friday night would come around and we’d hop in the car and say “we’re driving east until we stop!” I didn’t make plans; we just did what we wanted! Freedom!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a stick-in-the-mud, either. I don’t mind little fluctuations in my routine; it helps keeps things interesting. But for the most part, I like to minimize the amount of change I experience on a weekly basis.
That’s why when I saw this morning’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, I felt a bit of relief. Mortgage rates mostly remain unchanged from last week. Let’s take a look:
30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped this week to 3.38% with an average of 0.7 points. Last week they averaged 3.40%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed rate averaged 3.88%.
15-year fixed-rate remained comfortable at 2.66% with an average of 0.7 points, same as last week. Last year, the 15-year rate averaged 3.17%.
ARMs were both up and down. The 5-year ARM held fast to 2.67% with an average 0.6 points. Meanwhile the 1-year ARM was 2.57% this week with an average 0.4 points, down from last week when it averaged 2.60%. A year ago the 5-year ARM and the 1-year ARM averaged 2.82% and 2.74% respectively.
Let’s see what Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac has to say about this week’s report:
“Mortgage rates were flat to down a little this week amid reports that inflation remains contained. The overall producer price index rose 0.1 percent between November and December, below the market consensus forecast, and the consumer price index was unchanged. For the year as a whole, consumer prices rose just 1.7 percent in 2012, almost half that of 2011′s increase of 3.0 percent.”
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