- 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averages 3.04% for the week ending Apr.15, down from 3.13% recorded in prior week and down from 3.31% averaged in same period a year ago, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey.
- "The economy is improving on the demand side and on the supply side, a variety of goods and materials remain scarce. As a result of this imbalance, pricing pressures are building and causing inflation to rise. Despite the pause in mortgage rates recently, we expect them to increase modestly for the remainder of this year," Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist Sam Khater commented.
- 15-year FRM averages 2.35% down from prior week's 2.42% and 2.80% a year ago.
- 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate mortgage average 2.80%, down from last week's 2.92%, and down from 3.34% a year ago.
- A recent quarterly forecast by Freddie Mac indicates that mortgage rates will continue to move up with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging just above 3% (3.2%) through 2021 end and 3.7% in 2022.
- "Higher mortgage rates have the potential, however, to dampen the robust demand we’ve been experiencing, and we therefore forecast total originations to decline to $3.5T in 2021," Khater added.
- Homebuilder stocks - D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI), Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL), Taylor Morrison Home (NYSE:TMHC), Tri Pointe Homes (NYSE:TPH), KB Home (NYSE:KBH), LGI Homes (NASDAQ:LGIH) - are trading in the green in early hours.
- ETFs Watch: iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (BATS:ITB) and iShares Mortgage Real Estate Capped ETF (BATS:REM).
- To Watch: Mortgage REITs Annaly Capital Management (NYSE:NLY) AGNC Investment (NASDAQ:AGNC), Chimera Investment (NYSE:CIM)