Benchmark mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest levels of 2017, according to Thursday’s Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage loan was 4.08 percent, down two basis points. A 15-year fixed rate loan was 3.34 percent, sinking two basis points. And the average rate on a 5-year adjustable rate mortgage loan was 3.18 percent, down one basis point.
Market observers noted that Freddie Mac’s survey was the first since U.S. airstrikes in Syria, and since an unimpressive March jobs report. Considering the market’s response to those developments, the drop in mortgage rates wasn’t entirely surprising.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes dropped by two basis points Wednesday after President Donald Trump said the dollar was “too strong” and announced that China was not engaged in currency manipulation. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes tends to be an good gauge of where mortgage rates are heading. When the yield is up, mortgage rates typically go up. When the yield is down, mortgage rates often follow.
