Mortgage rates are now down for the third straight week, according to the weekly survey from Freddie Mac.
- The 30-Year Fixed averaged 6.49% for the week ending December 1st, this is down 9 basis points from last week and is now down 59 basis points from the 24-year high just three weeks ago.
- Despite the drop, rates are still a whopping 328 basis points higher than one year ago.
Analysis. Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, said optimism is rising that the Fed will slow its rate hikes but economic uncertainty is still a concern. “Mortgage rates continued to drop this week as optimism grows around the prospect that the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of rate hikes…Even as rates decrease and house prices soften, economic uncertainty continues to limit homebuyer demand as we enter the last month of the year.”
MBS. Mortgage Backed Securities had another positive week as the latest price for the 30YR UMBS 5.0 closed up 0.42 cents to $99.81 for the week ending November 30th. Mortgage backeds are now up $3.27 for the month of November.