U.S. mortgage rates fell below 4 percent last week, which may encourage a rush of home buyers.
Last week, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.9 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data released by Freddie Mac. It’s the first time rates have dropped below 4 percent since November. A week earlier, the rate was 4.08 percent and in mid-March it was 4.3 percent, according to the Journal.
Mortgage rates jumped following Donald Trump’s presidential win, after hovering slightly above 3.5 percent for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for most of 2016. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates last month, and officials have foreshadowed two more rate raises this year.
However, Treasury yields came close to a five-month low last week, driven by investor concerns about unrest in Syria and North Korea, and because of little development on tax reform.
Economists say a mortgage rate decline could drive more home buyers towards investing, as lower rates mean reduced mortgage repayments.
“Almost the entirety of the Trump bump [to mortgage rates] has been washed away,” Keith Gumbinger, a vice president at HSH.com, a mortgage-information website, told the newspaper.
“It’s driving more demand into a market that doesn’t have much in the way of supply,” he added. [WSJ] — Miriam Hall