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Mortgage Rates Close-Out August with Little Change According to Bankrate.com Weekly Survey

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NEW YORK, NY – Mortgage rates were small changed as August came to a close, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate holding at 3.57 percent, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey. The 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.23 discount and origination points.

The larger jumbo 30-year fixed maintained last week’s record low level of 3.57 percent, while the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate was down a hair to 2.86 percent. Adjustable mortgage rates were up slightly, with the 5-year ARM nudging higher to 3.09 percent and the 7-year ARM climbing back to 3.26 percent.  

Mortgage rates spent the month of August doing what many people like to do in the bone idle days of summer – nothing. The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage went a scant one-one hundredth of a percentage point during the entire month. Not only has trading volume in financial markets been extremely low, but even an anticipated speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen elicited small more than a shrug in markets. While Yellen said the case for an interest rate hike had grown, she provided small clarity as to whether that would come later in September. It was Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer who stated that two interest rate hikes by year-end were still a possibility, which suggests a September increase might yet materialize. With an ambiguous timetable from the Fed, mortgage rates were small changed, if at all. 

At the current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 3.57 percent, the monthly payment for a $200,000 loan is $905.92.

SURVEY RESULTS

30-year fixed: 3.57% — unchanged from last week (avg. points: 0.23)
15-year fixed: 2.86% — down from 2.87% last week (avg. points: 0.21)
5/1 ARM: 3.09% — up from 3.07% last week (avg. points: 0.27)

Bankrate’s national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in 10 top markets.

For a full analysis of this week’s go in mortgage rates, go to www.bankrate.com

The survey is complemented by Bankrate’s weekly Rate Trend Index, in which a panel of mortgage experts predicts which way the rates are headed over the next seven days. The lion’s share – 87 percent – expect mortgage rates will remain more or less unchanged over the next week, while 13 percent forecast an increase. Fascinatingly, none of this week’s respondents predicts a decline in mortgage rates over the next seven days.

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We're actually not married to this big homeowner tax break: Mortgage Bankers CEO

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(RECAP: Reducing or even eliminating the mortgage interest deduction could be worth considering as part of a comprehensive reform of the American tax code, Mortgage Bankers Association CEO David Stevens told CNBC on Wednesday. “We’re not religiously wed to the mortgage interest deduction,” Stevens said on “Squawk Box,” in a sign the real estate financing industry may be open to dealing on the well loved tax break. “Entry level homebuyers typically don’t deduct, don’t itemize. And wealthy borrowers won’t really care,” Stevens said. “[But] everybody needs to know the American that benefits from the mortgage interest deduction is the middle-class homebuyer.” For changes to the mortgage interest deduction to be on the table, Stevens said a broad tax reform package would have to provide offsetting protection for working Americans.)

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Realtors Press HUD for Quicker Action on FHA Condo Rules

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(RECAP: The National Association of Realtors is calling on HUD to speed up implementation of reforms to the Federal Housing Administration’s condominium reforms. Legislation signed by President Obama in July that makes numerous reforms to government housing programs included provisions that reduce restrictions on condominium buildings being FHA approved so that more FHA borrowers can buy condominium units. Realtors are hoping HUD will issue an interim proposed rule soon that will allow some of the condo provisions to go into effect straight away. But some in the housing industry worry a slow rulemaking process could delay implementation to after the November elections and the transition to a new administration. The Realtors estimate that less than 10% of condominiums currently qualify for FHA mortgage insurance.)

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