Mortgage rates continued to climb for the week ending September 1st, according to the Freddie Mac weekly survey.
- 30-year fixed rate mortgage was up 11 basis points to 5.66% and is now up 279 basis points from one year ago.
- 15-year fixed rate mortgage was up 13 basis points to 4.98% and is now up 270 basis points from one year ago.
Commentary:
- Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist argues that rising rates could put even more downward pressure on listing prices. “The increase in mortgage rates is coming at a particularly vulnerable time for the housing market as sellers are recalibrating their pricing due to lower purchase demand, likely resulting in continued price growth deceleration.”
- Nadia Evangelou, Senior Economist at NAR, said this bad news for home affordability. “…data shows that the typical family in the U.S. can no longer afford to buy a median-priced home when mortgage rates rise over 5.7%. At that point, the typical family needs to spend more than 25% of their income on the mortgage payment. Adding other expenses such as mortgage insurance, home insurance, taxes, and expenses for property maintenance, home buying becomes burdensome for the typical family.”
Elsewhere on the web. Mortgage News Daily showed a much bigger move for the 30-year fixed. they had the 30-year at 6.23% a 50 basis point jump from Friday’s close.