Mortgage rates remain near 6.7% as Fed flags growing economic uncertainty

Mortgage rates held dependable again this week, giving prospective homebuyers small alleviation arsenic the outpouring buying and selling play approaches.

The mean 30-year owe complaint was 6.67% this week done Wednesday, according to Freddie Mac data, compared with 6.65% a week earlier. 15-year owe rates averaged 5.83%, small changed from 5.8% a week earlier.

Mortgage rates person drifted little this twelvemonth from highs of astir 7% but person stagnated betwixt 6.6% and 6.7% amid increasing uncertainty astir what President Trump’s tariff policies volition mean for the economy. 10-year Treasury yields, which intimately way owe rates, were small changed this week until Wednesday, erstwhile they declined successful the aftermath of the Federal Reserve’s meeting.

The Fed near benchmark involvement rates unchanged and forecast an further 50 ground points of complaint cuts aboriginal this year, a projection that was small changed from December.

Read more: How the Fed complaint determination affects your slope accounts, loans, recognition cards, and investments

But cardinal slope officials raised their expectations for ostentation this twelvemonth portion lowering outlook for economical growth. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said successful prepared remarks that uncertainty astir the Trump administration’s trade, immigration, fiscal, and regulatory policies remains high.

The cardinal slope doesn’t person nonstop power implicit owe rates, which typically determination based connected expectations astir aboriginal Fed argumentation decisions.

Mortgage applications for location purchases were efficaciously level done Friday compared with a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinancing applications fell 13% week implicit week, though they stay 70% higher than a twelvemonth agone erstwhile involvement rates averaged astir 6.9%.

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J.C. de Ona, southeast Florida part president for Centennial Bank, said he’s noticed owe request prime up successful caller weeks arsenic rates proceed to autumn and the outpouring homebuying play begins. But helium thinks immoderate homebuyers are inactive sidelined, hoping to spot bigger complaint declines.

“I deliberation immoderate are astir apt hopeful that they get backmost into the fives,” de Ona said.

Even though determination hasn't been a melodramatic alteration successful owe rates, location income roseate 4.2% successful February compared to a period earlier, to a seasonally adjusted yearly complaint of 4.26 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. Unsold inventory of existing homes climbed 5.1% from a period earlier.

Claire Boston is simply a elder newsman for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and location insurance.