LOS ANGELES — The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell slightly this week, providing modest relief for home shoppers facing record-high home prices.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week, pulling the average rate down to 6.17% from 6.25% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.30%, Freddie Mac said.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy and the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide for pricing home loans.
Most economists expect the Fed’s first rate cut to come in September, with potentially another cut by year’s end.Until the Fed begins lowering its short-term rate, long-term home loans are unlikely to budge significantly from where they are now. Still, mortgage rates could generally ease in coming weeks if bond yields continue declining in anticipation of a Fed rate cut.
Despite forecasts calling for mortgage rates to ease in coming months, most economists expect the average rate on a 30-year home loan to remain above 6% this year.If you’re planning to get a Costco membership, or looking to renew, you should do so before Sept. 1, as the wholesale retailer is increasing fees for its most basic and executive membership cards.These two Canadian banks are climbing, but still have so much more room to run.