Prices of Mortgage Backed Securities which drive mortgage interest rates are up so far today. MBS prices move mortgage rates in the opposite direction. There’s no major economic data to be released today to directly to affect MBS and mortgage rates. The Dow is up 25 points on this quiet Monday morning. Volatility is common in MBS prices and during December due to light volume. A strong dollar helps to lower mortgage rates. Today the dollar gave ground to the Euro. The benchmark 10 year treasury yield, used to forecast mortgage rates is at 3.54, about even on the day. The yield is at a 3 month high. Big news will come on the 16th when the Fed explains their game plan for winding down the purchases of 1.25 trillion in agency mortgage-backed securities and 125 billion in housing agency debt. These purchases are credited with lowering today’s mortgage interest rates and keeping banks liquid enough to continue lending. Almost all mortgages originated nowadays are Fannie/Freddie or FHA whose bonds the government purchases.
Today’s Mortgage Interest Rates
Deterioration of MBS prices has put mortgage interest rates, already up considerably from record lows, at risk to go up. FreeRateUpdate.com research of wholesale lender’s mortgage rates at par shows 30 year fixed rates opening the week where they closed on Friday. Today’s 30 year fixed interest rate is 4.75%. Today’s 15 year fixed interest rate is 4.25%. Today’s 5/1 ARM rate is 3.75%.
Today’s FHA Mortgage Rates – FHA 30 Year Fixed Rate
Today’s FHA mortgage interest rates rates are up across the board on the various programs FHA offers. We’ll focus on just the 30 year fixed FHA interest rate which is up to 4.875% at par. The FHA 30 year fixed rate dipped to 4.5% when the conforming 30 year fixed rate did the same a little over 2 weeks ago. There’s risk that today the FHA 30 year fixed rate will rise to 5%.
Jumbo Mortgage Rates are Rising
Jumbo mortgage rates are up this week. The jumbo 30 year fixed rate is at 5.875% and very near 6%. Jumbo 30 year fixed rates were as low as 5.625% last week.
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