Mortgage Rates End Week at Recent Highs

[Joseph Scorese]

Mortgage Rates End Week at Recent Highs

Mortgage rates were generally quiet today as bond markets wound down ahead of the 3-day weekend. While stock markets and many businesses will be open as usual on Monday, banks and bond markets will be closed. This means that many mortgage lenders will either be closed, or otherwise simply not making any rate sheet adjustments. Point-being, it's not uncommon to see movement in interest rates level-off heading into these longer weekends. Unfortunately for the current week, that means we're leveling off at the highest rates of the month.
The silver lining, of course, is that rates are still lower than almost all of September and the average conventional 30yr fixed rate remains in the high 3's. Specifically, most lenders are quoting 3.875% on top tier scenarios with a few of the most aggressive lenders at 3.75% and a few others back up to 4.0%. Most borrowers would not have seen any change in rates from yesterday although the borrowing costs rose very slightly in some cases.

In the bigger picture, financial markets are at a crossroads. This is true for both stocks and bonds, with each trying to determine if it will move back into the ranges seen in June and July or if the recent move lower in yields and stock prices was merely the first wave of a longer campaign. If we take the Fed at their word, and if we forego any concerns about increasingly weak global economic growth, there is certainly more risk that rates move quickly higher vs quickly lower. Hoping for lower rates is a long-term game meant only for economic pessimists who know the fact that the world is doomed will come to light fairly shortly. The latter must also be willing to pay higher rates if they end up being wrong (or otherwise unwilling to wait long enough to be right).