“Mortgage rates retreated this week given incoming data showing slower growth,” Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, said in the survey report. “Rates are just shy of 7%, and we expect them to modestly decline over the remainder of 2024. If a potential buyer is looking to buy a home this year, waiting for lower rates may result in small savings, but shopping around for the best rate remains tremendously beneficial.”
In comparison to a year ago, the current 30-year FRM rate of 6.99% is up from 6.71%. Similarly, the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.29% this week, down slightly from 6.36% last week but higher than the 6.07% average a year ago.
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Holden Lewis, a home and mortgage expert at NerdWallet, commented on the slight decrease in mortgage rates.
“Mortgage rates dropped this week on news that the manufacturing sector is slowing a little bit. The change was small, though, because markets are waiting for next week’s Fed meeting, in which the Federal Reserve will issue its quarterly economic projections.”
